Final summer time, simply earlier than was introduced as Lewis Hamilton’s , a video of the Italian teenager went viral on social media. Reposted by 1000’s, it gave a glowing perception into the driving force tipped to be the subsequent huge factor in System 1.
In dialog along with his engineers at F2 workforce Prema, Antonelli is requested to recall a bunch of qualifying lap instances from his previous few years of racing. This, these current said, was Antonelli’s largest expertise; not his lightning pace behind the wheel however his meticulous motorsport reminiscence financial institution. Lo and behold, Antonelli reeled off an array of lap instances with exact accuracy. F2 teammate Ollie Bearman, , might solely watch on and giggle in disbelief.
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It’s a fascinating perception into Antonelli, the 18-year-old hotshot whom boss has risked his post-Hamilton legacy on. A youngster whose psychological fortitude is maybe extra spectacular than his undoubted uncooked tempo in a racing automobile. Thus far, six races in, Wolff’s gamble to switch one of many best ever with an untried rookie seems like a masterstroke.
Antonelli has already damaged data: the youngest-driver to attain factors, after a luxurious restoration drive from sixteenth to fourth within the season-opening rain in Melbourne. And after his for the dash race on the final spherical in Miami, he turned the youngest-driver to ever report a pole place in any format. Sebastian Vettel, the earlier report holder, was three years older at 21.
Launched with beautiful timing, at some point after the Miami Gand Prix, Antonelli’s ascension to System One has been chronicled in a brand new 45-minute documentary on Netflix, titled ‘The Seat.’
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Made in partnership with Mercedes sponsor WhatsApp, it provides a quickfire behind-the-scenes look at Wolff’s response to Hamilton’s exit and the way Antonelli – forward of the likes of Carlos Sainz and – shortly sprinted to the entrance of Wolff’s considering in filling the spot subsequent to George Russell this season.
Since signing for Mercedes on the age of 12, the boy from Bologna has been hailed as a prodigy. Archival footage within the documentary exhibits Antonelli, whose father Marco additionally raced domestically, romping to victory within the top-tier of go-karting in 2018, aged simply 12. Having received FRECA in 2023 – the de facto European F4 championship – he skipped F3 final yr and jumped straight to F2, ending sixth and successful two races.
However as The Seat highlights, his most precious time on monitor final yr got here in testing earlier Mercedes F1 automobiles at venues equivalent to Silverstone, Austria and Jerez. With Hamilton’s ex-engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington the information in his ear, Antonelli was given 5,600 miles (roughly 30 full F1 races) to arrange for the largest problem of his life. All this, earlier than he’d even handed his highway driving check in Italy, which he ticked off in January.
These stats haven’t been misplaced on specialists this yr, in gentle of Liam Lawson’s fast two-race demotion at Pink Bull, in charting how invaluable Mercedes’s thorough planning has been in adjusting Antonelli to the System 1 circus.
Kimi Antonelli changed seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes this yr (Getty Pictures)
There has, we should always not overlook, been one hiccup. His F1 debut in Monza final September, at some point earlier than official affirmation of his 2025 choose, ended after simply 10 minutes in follow. In his first lap, he set the timing sheets alight. On the finish of his second flying lap, he spun and at Parabolica nook.
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“That day, I let down my entire household,” Antonelli mentioned in The Seat. “My dad was not proud of me. I cried as properly, simply didn’t need to see anybody. Simply wished to go dwelling.”
It was an unforgiving lesson into the high-quality margins between threat and reward in F1.
The Antonelli-focused documentary The Seat airs on Netflix (WhatsApp)
This weekend, Antonelli returns dwelling to Italy’s different cease on the calendar. After a whistlestop six-race opening to the 2025 season, protecting three continents, F1 begins its conventional European summer time season , for a race which is prone to be the final at this old-school circuit in Emilia-Romagna.
But whereas nearly all of spectators will likely be donning the scarlet purple of Ferrari, they are going to be in an uncommon place of getting an area star to help too. Antonelli is the primary Italian F1 driver since Antonio Giovanazzi departed in 2021. Extra astonishingly, no Italian driver has received an F1 race since Giancarlo Fisichella in 2006.
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Antonelli’s opening stint – 5 top-10 finishes from six grands prix, sixth within the forward of Ferrari’s Hamilton – has impressed onlookers within the paddock. His charming post-race interviews, performed in each his native Italian and wonderful grasp of English, have additionally warmed him to the game’s devoted.
Antonelli has been in comparison with Max Verstappen, given they each made their F1 debuts as youngsters (Getty Pictures)
Wrapped in black-and-silver overalls, the longer term seems brilliant. Mercedes technical director James Allison spoke for the entire workforce in The Seat when describing Antonelli as “treasured and particular.”
What would signify a profitable rookie marketing campaign for Antonelli? No championship standing targets; merely preserving in contact with Russell, in his fourth yr at Mercedes, spherical by spherical. Wolff has already insisted it’s a yr for studying, as Antonelli lays the groundwork for what’s tipped to be an extended and profitable profession.
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However Miami, a circuit he had by no means pushed at earlier than, gave a tantalising teaser into Antonelli’s potential. His pole-setting lap was beautiful; his drop from first to fourth after flip one within the subsequent dash an indication that race-craft can solely include expertise. But Antonelli is smart past his years and, some may say, this decade’s reply to Verstappen within the 2010s. The comparisons, given their fast teenage debuts, are apparent. Wolff has additionally made no secret of his remorse at not signing the Dutch star as a youngster, when Pink Bull beat him to the put up.
Whether or not Antonelli can fulfil his potential within the method of Verstappen lately is one other query. Mercedes are rumoured, at this early stage, to be the frontrunners for 2026, amid new engine and chassis rules. May Antonelli actually be a title contender subsequent yr? Vettel’s report because the youngest F1 title-holder stands at 23 years of age; Antonelli has till 2029 to higher that line within the sand.
But at this stage, speak of world championships is far-fetched. A podium will likely be Antonelli’s first goal, and what higher place than Imola, 25 miles from dwelling, this weekend. However it doesn’t matter what lies forward on the journey, no less than we all know the numerical whiz himself will likely be on high of all his statistics alongside the way in which.
