Andrea Kimi Antonelli could make his Formula 1 debut before the season is over, according to some of the speculation earlier this year.
But even if he has to wait longer than that it seems a near-certainty that Mercedes junior driver will end up on the F1 grid.George Russell, who is currently without a team mate for next season at Mercedes, believes that Antonelli is “no doubt going to be a Formula 1 driver in the future”.
Not yet legally old enough to race in F1, the 17-year-old has a level of hype around him not seen since another teenager, Max Verstappen, made his record-shattering F1 debut back in 2015. The rules introduced by the FIA following Verstappen’s debut, such as the 18-year age limit, are potentially all that has kept Antonelli from arriving even earlier.
After letting an opportunity to have Verstappen in their stable slip through their fingers all those years ago, Mercedes are eager to harness one of the most outstanding young talents of his generation – especially as Lewis Hamilton will be leaving the team at the end of the season, leaving them a seat to fill.
On the face of it, Antonelli’s performances in this year’s F2 championship give few clues why he is being hailed as ‘the next big thing’. After 10 races, Antonelli lies sixth in the championship, his best finish a trio of fourth places, with no wins or even podiums to his name.
So what is it about Antonelli that has led Mercedes to consider him as a viable candidate to replace the most successful F1 driver of all time?
2014-21: The karting years
The son of touring car and GT racer Marco Antonelli, who founded the Antonelli Motorsport team, Kimi – as he prefers to be called – arrived on Mercedes’ radar before their last newcomer, George Russell, made his grand prix debut.
A multiple champion in various junior Italian karting series, Antonelli began to forge a relationship with Mercedes in 2018 before he was a teenager, not yet having even arrived at OK Junior level. He was outstanding in mini karts in 2018 before stepping up to the CIK-FIA level in 2019, officially signing as a Mercedes junior in April the year Russell became an F1 driver.
Antonelli finished second in the OK European championship behind Marcus Amand but ahead of Ferrari junior Tuukka Taponen, then took fifth place in the world championships in Finland, behind current F2 rival Pepe Marti. Antonelli showed improvement the next season in 2020, taking that year’s CIK European championship. However, after a crash with Maya Weug during a chaotic start to the world championship race at the Algarve circuit left him with a broken leg, Antonelli was unable to compete for the world title.
The next season in 2021 was another successful one. He defended his European title in the OK class, but despite qualifying fourth for the world championship race in Sweden, a poor start dropped him out of contention and he finished outside the top 10.
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2021-2022: Stepping into single-seaters
Before the end of 2021, Antonelli made his first major step towards his future by making his debut in cars in the Italian F4 championship. Antonelli joined the series from September for the final nine races with Prema alongside future F2 team mate Oliver Bearman. He finished ninth in his first ever car race, then secured a podium finish in each of the three races at Monza for the final round of the championship.
The following year of 2022 was 15-year-old Antonelli’s first full season in car racing out of karting. Racing in the F4 level, the Mercedes junior was the standout Formula 4 driver of the year. He won his first two races of the year in the UAE F4 championship at Yas Marina, running a part-schedule of just eight races of which he reached the podium at five.
Returning to Europe, he led the entire German F4 series, cruising to the championship with nine wins. Combining this campaign with his first full season of Italian F4, he took the top step of the podium in a remarkable 13 of the 22 races to secured his second F4 title in a single season.
Towards the end of the year in the FIA’s Motorsport Games event at Paul Ricard, Antonelli had a chance to punctuate his dominant F4 year by winning the F4 cup. Despite breaking his wrist during qualifying, he still managed to secure pole position. Then, even while nursing an injury, he led every single lap from pole to take a gutsy and incredibly impressive victory.
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2023: Further success in Formula Regional
After F4, the next step up the single seater pyramid is not Formula 3, but rather Formula Regional. Once again, Antonelli began his year in the Middle East, competing in the Formula Regional Middle Eastern Championship against several fellow F1 juniors like Ferrari’s Dino Beganovic and Alpine’s Gabriele Mini.
Antonelli won three races out of the 15 over the month-long season with seven podiums and three pole positions. He took the title by a healthy 40-point margin over Taylor Barnard. It was his third successive championship victory from the last three series he had competed in.
Could Antonelli build on that success in the coveted Formula Regional European Championship and add a fourth title in two years? He put himself in a strong position to start the season with three second place finishes from the opening four races.
His first victory of the campaign came in the second race at Spa-Francorchamps. However, it was not a victory he could take any joy from, as MP racer Dilano van ‘t Hoff suffered fatal injuries in an appalling accident along the Kemmel Straight in low visibility conditions.
The series continued one week later at Mugello. Antonelli took second place in race one, then victory in the second and final race of the weekend. He was now just two points off the championship leader, Martinius Stenshorne, at the halfway point of the championship.
Antonelli secured three more victories and five podium finishes from the final ten races of the season to comfortably secure the title by just under 40 points over Stenshorne by the end of the championship. On top of that, his pass on Nikhil Bohra on the final lap of the season at the Nurburgring won Prema the teams’ title.
His FREC success meant Antonelli had taken the top prize in both of the competitions he had been entered in for 2023, and his fifth significant title win in just two full calendar years racing in single-seaters.
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2024: On the cusp of Formula 1
Antonelli’s success at a Formula Regional level in 2023 left Mercedes wondering what to do with their brightest junior prospect for the next season. The logical step forward for the 17-year-old would be Formula 3, where he would enter as likely the overwhelming favourite. However, Mercedes opted to push for him to jump straight up into Formula 2, with the same Prema team he had enjoyed so much success with over the previous two years.
He is not the first driver to make the jump from Formula Regional to F2, or even this only one this year. But the leap in performance between the two categories should not be underestimated.
Going from Formula Regional’s 270bhp of Tatuus T-318, bypassing the 380bhp Dallara F3 car to jump straight into a 620bhp 2024 F2 car with a turbocharged engine, a maximum speed of over 200mph with DRS and lateral loads of almost 4G, this is by far the biggest jump in car performance Antonelli has experienced. However, teaming him alongside Bearman, another teenager gunning for a title and an F1 seat for 2025, team principal Rene Rosin had no doubts about his ability to step straight into F2.
But just days before the pre-season test in Bahrain, Antonelli’s debut F2 campaign suddenly took on a whole new meaning when Mercedes confirmed Lewis Hamilton would leave them at the end of 2024. Although Toto Wolff insisted that they did not want to rush Antonelli or put pressure on him over his first season in F2, he was now a legitimate candidate for the F1 seat that Mercedes now had to fill for 2025.
If the decision to promote Antonelli into F2 was partly motivated by a new chassis for the 2024 season putting the inexperienced drivers on a more even keel with those with at least a year under their belts, it appeared to have backfired in the opening round in Bahrain where Prema endured a torrid weekend. But the team bounced back immediately in Jeddah, Bearman securing pole position before having to abandon his F2 car to act as substitute for Carlos Sainz Jnr at Ferrari.
Over the opening ten races of the championship, Antonelli remains yet to take a top three finish – the only driver in the top 12 places in the championship not to have a podium. But given his lack of experience of a racing car this powerful, not to mention many of the tracks which made up the opening rounds, he has demonstrated a lost of potential.
Antonelli has only failed to score points twice since that difficult opening round of the season in Bahrain and placed in the top five in three of his last five races. That consistency could go a long way to helping him move further up the standings. He is 32 points off leader Paul Aron (who lost his place on Mercedes’ young driver programme at the end of last year) with 351 available.
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Following the Formula 2 round in Melbourne, Antonelli had his first ever run in a Formula 1 car at the Red Bull Ring in April, driving Mercedes’ 2021 constructors’ championship-winning W12. Soon after, the tested a ground effect F1 for the first time by running the 2022 W13 at Imola.
Most recently, Antonelli was back in an F1 cockpit at Silverstone, running along with Russell and the team’s reserve driver, Mick Schumacher. His progress has been the focus of huge media interest, prompting Mercedes to deny his last run was a ‘shootout’ between him and Schumacher to help decide who should fill Hamilton’s 2025 seat. Mercedes insisted the pair and Russell ran completely separate programmes that could not be compared.
This week, Antonelli will be back in a Formula 1 car yet again – this time at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. While Mercedes are not making any decisions about their driver line up soon, it seems as though they will have copious amounts of private testing data from which to decide whether they want to promote a soon-to-be 18-year-old into their seat for 2024 or even lobby a customer team like Williams to take him on instead. Until that decision is made, all Antonelli needs to focus on is on scoring points in Formula 2 and pushing for that elusive podium.
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BasCB (@bascb)
5th June 2024, 7:52
I still think it would be wiser to have him do either a second season in F2 to mature, or try to agree a deal with Williams (he could learn a lot from Albon, also about stepping into a big team a tad too early) to have him get used to F1 first.
But I guess we’ll see how it goes
Todfod (@todfod)
6th June 2024, 6:42
I think the approach Red bull took with Verstappen was to avoid him going in to F2 and learning new machinery, when they were convinced he’ll make it to F1. Why not get him to F1 and use the first few years as a development experience in the series where he will ultimately end up anyways.
It worked for Verstappen, he won his first race a 19 year old, and by the time he was in his 5th season, he was already the best driver on the grid.
I think putting Antonelli in a Williams for 2025 is a great move.
Dex
5th June 2024, 8:58
Verstappen looked more impressive in F1 than Antonelli is in F2. It’s impossible to tell, but this hype building is getting ridiculous. Toto acts more like he wants to destroy this kid, than see him succeed. What’s the point of all this pressure?
This young driver is becoming annoying in a way, and it’s not his fault.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
7th June 2024, 7:25
yeah, Toto is selfish and greedy like that. The marketing hacks in F1 would love to move the demographic focus to a lower age and ditch the folk that remember great racing and push idol worship for another 20 years. Hence the need to have drivers like Verstappen with cars 1 second faster than the rest (tires). The FIA want a cultural revolution, but what they really need is severe divestment.
André
5th June 2024, 9:04
Too much hype on these kids. Mercedes should hire Sainz and put Antonelli for a few years in a Williams.
Mayrton
5th June 2024, 9:17
It will take one or two decades to find a Verstappen grade talent again. They don’t come by that often. But one can hope..
José Lopes da Silva
5th June 2024, 15:21
Actually, they do. They have been coming at the pace of 1 or 2 in each decade. And since Verstappen we haven’t see anyone quite at his level, notwithstanding my full respects to Leclerc. So, approaching the 10th anniversary of Verstappen’s debut, it could happen.
José Lopes da Silva
5th June 2024, 15:24
Unless you consider that Fangio and Verstappen are on a different league above any other driver. That’s highly contentious but one could argue for it. If that’s what you’re thinking, then yes, it should take some more decades for some other driver looking as invincible as them to show up.
SteveP
5th June 2024, 18:29
One can but hope that we see a talent that starts his F1 career without the four years of crashing into barriers, other competitors, and his teammate.
Maybe Antonelli is ready, maybe he isn’t.
Jere (@jerejj)
5th June 2024, 9:36
That speculation is outdated already, so still continuing with that is pointless.
James Vowles made clear on the Emilia-Romagna GP that no driver changes will happen during the season, so people should simply accept the matter this way instead of being hell-bent on contradicting him.
MichaelN
5th June 2024, 9:36
Even Verstappen wasn’t exactly fantastic before 2018 either. Sure he had his moments, but it took a while for him to become the full package.
Antonelli having a second season in F2 might be the most logical approach, but the 2025 F1 season is also unique in that it’s the end of an era of sorts, so unless Mercedes thinks it can fight for the title, it won’t be too much of a problem to use it as a learning year for Antonelli.
The Dolphins
5th June 2024, 14:29
Correct on all counts. Kimi has shown his potential in F2, so far making easy work of his teammate. He is worthy of at least regular first practice sessions in Lewis’ car in 2024. 2025 is a development year of sorts for team and driver so there is less pressure on him to score points, just keep the car clean (aka keep the repair cost down) and finish races
José Lopes da Silva
5th June 2024, 15:29
Eventually history will be corrected regarding Verstappen’s results up to Monaco 2018. The weight of Verstappen’s later results will be too heavy.
Verstappen was a complete top driver from 2016. The only reason he seemed to prone to error is because he was taking too much risks. From Canada 2018 he just stopped trying to win the championship and focused on “just” getting superb results and wait for the championship winning car to appear.
In 2021 it was clear that he would not go too much over the line because he already had a championship winning car, although not a dominant one.
MichaelN
5th June 2024, 17:25
But that’s exactly it. He didn’t ‘seem’ error prone – he was. And it was pointed out to him so many times that he got upset about it in more than once press conference. It became a big talking point in early 2018 once again. And as much as he denied it, it was pretty clear that Monaco 2018 forced him to come to terms with the criticism. And he learned from it and hasn’t looked back since. Props to him for doing so. Not everyone is able to make that step, and he did – fair play!
CarWars (@maxv)
5th June 2024, 18:13
He had to overdrive the car most of the time to be in contention. Easier to make mistakes.
Similar can be said about Leclerc, he was driving a very difficult Ferrari in 2022 and sort of failed, made mistakes. But alot of it was because he had to be on the limit. Race in France being a prime example.
Think we underestimate how difficult it is to get more out of okish car. You can see it typically based on teammate deltas.
SteveP
5th June 2024, 18:36
He didn’t have to overdrive anything, it was just what he did. Refraining from doing that reduced the crashes and increased the performance.
It seemed to take 4 years for the concept to get through to him, though.
CarWars (@maxv)
5th June 2024, 19:05
Sure he didnt have to, but that way you wont become a champion
José Lopes da Silva
5th June 2024, 21:09
“Monaco 2018 forced him to come to terms with the criticism.”
“He didn’t have to overdrive anything, it was just what he did. Refraining from doing that reduced the crashes and increased the performance.” (SteveP)
We all agree about the concept. Max Verstappen was always in full control of the situation, since the beginning. He was not a driver having a hard time with the car or with himself. He was a driver trying to go 101% because he was not in contention for the title, anyway.
This is why he seemed error prone, but wasn’t.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th June 2024, 21:23
Agree with this, think about the cars he had back in 2016-2018: cars that were occasionally in contention for wins on merit but never for the championship, he said it himself sometimes: makes sense to risk cause we’re here to win races.
I also said it back then: as soon as he has a championship winning car, he won’t make as many mistakes any more and there you have 2021.
SteveP
5th June 2024, 21:52
Always in control?
So you think he deliberately drove into the back of his teammate?
I thought for years he screwed up and wrecked both cars, but you say he was in full control.
José Lopes da Silva
5th June 2024, 22:42
I don’t know when did Verstappen drove into the back of a team mate. In Azerbaijan 2018, it was Ricciardo behind. Did Verstappen hit Sainz in Toro Rosso?
The team works with the driver and noawadays, even more than 40 or 50 years ago, they have the full picture thanks to telemetry and all the data. A team that has a top driver and can see that he has the speed, the consistency and the psichological strenght to be an asset is not going to send him away. And, like it happened to Verstappen, it might forgive some risk taking.
No one remembers the errors and blunders of top drivers because they’re the exception. No one remembers that Schumacher crashed out of a wet track in Donington 1993, Imola 1995 and Monaco 1996. Those errors were infrequent. The team knew, and everyone knew, that Schumacher was in full control of the situation, in and out of the car. Also no one remembers the optimistic moves of Senna while lapping people in Brazil and Hungary 1990.
Verstappen won in Spain 2016 and got up to Ricciardo quite fast. Given that one could expect him to still be in a learning curve, the odds would be with him.
People tend to forget that Verstappen reached the top tier at 17 years old. It could and should be expected for him to make a lot of unforced errors. And for a large couple of years. Check the first season of Felipe Massa in F1, for instance. The point is – top drivers don’t do unforced errors.
If a driver goes off when he is behind his team mate or is feeling the pressure of the team; if a driver crashes too frequently and, while not being pressured, there seems to be no reason for the crash; if a driver is about to score nicely and goes off, feeling the pressure not of the team but of the moment (Giovinazzi in Spa, Hulkengerg in Germany 2019) – in these situations we question the driver’s hability.
A top driver has more leeway to do mistakes, especially if he consistently ahead his team mate or if he is showing the mind power to overcome any situation. “With your mind power you can fly very high”, right?
And Verstappen’s, for the very most part, were not unforced errors. The most glaring ones were likely when he lost the wins in China and Monaco 2018 that ended up snatched by Ricciardo. But in China he was ahead of Ricciardo when he binned it – yes, he should have waited. In Monaco is not so certain because Ricciardo was being quicker in the free practice.
Someone should compare the Monaco 2018 Verstappen error to the Senna one 30 years before. Senna said later it was a kind of a small turning point in his mind approach to his career. Verstappen, of course, being a Dutch, would never say such things – but the statistics show it was a similar turning point. Likely he felt the heat and that he had no more room for risk taking. Results followed.
Above all, if the team doesn’t loose faith in its main driver (like Ferrari lost faith in both Vettel but also Raikkonen, before that – remember the late Marchionni comments), it’s hard to understand why do the fans start to create conspiracy theories to justify why is the driver favoured by the team. But it’s a matter for the fans, not for the driver or the sporting matter.
SteveP
6th June 2024, 7:47
My bad.
Verstappen was the one that, illegally, did two moves in the braking zone and caused the collision.
So, you’re right, MV was in control and did it deliberately.
José Lopes da Silva
6th June 2024, 8:16
As you might have heard, Senna and Schumacher drove deliberately into title rivals. No one, ever, questioned their skills, competence or talent because of those incidents.
So, do you want me to recognize that Verstappen was to blame in the Baku 2018? I can easily recognize that. That was not what we were talking about. I’m not here to defend driver X against all enemies, btw – I’m here because I love the sport and I disagree with the notion that Verstappen was error prone.
Verstappen is the driver that is criticised for stopping to make mistakes as soon as he wanted to. It has to be a testament to his incredible talent. In the good old days, drivers were criticised for making mistakes and, obviously, being incapable of stopping them – or going too slow on the track, of course.
If only Pastor Maldonado just wanted to stop making mistakes. Why didn’t he want it?
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
5th June 2024, 9:44
One can only compare the junior careers of Kimi and Max, for obvious reasons, at this point and I would say they’re really not doing Kimi any favors by putting him on that pedestal. Max absolutely eviscerated the competition in karting. Kimi had a great karting career, but he did not reach that level. And while you can argue for days about competition here and there, it would be very hard to argue that Max didn’t compete against a lot of great drivers (a lot of whom are F1 race winners at this point).
Yes, Max did not win the F3 championship before his F1 promotion. Ocon did. But considering Max was in a midfield team and still won more races than anyone else that year, I’d say that’s a statistic easily ignored. At this point he has nothing left to prove either way. But the point being, Kimi is yet to prove he’s on that level. He did great in various F4 competitions, but those are not the most hotly contested competitions so it’s hard to say if that’s enough to go into the most talented field of drivers (which F1 is, clearly) and compete at the top of that field out of nowhere. Max could. I’d argue Leclerc could too. As did Norris. But the former two still had to take a year at a lower midfield team (where they shone, still) to learn the ropes. Norris got straight into a McLaren, but that is still a midfield team (or was at that point). Mercedes is a top 3 team by all rights, recent form notwithstanding. I’d say it would be unfair to put him there.
So yeah, give him the back half of this year and all of next year at Williams and just take off a bit of that expectation that he’s immediately on the level of Max Verstappen. Just treat him as the talent he is by his own rights, and let him make some mistakes and learn as every young driver needs to.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
5th June 2024, 10:52
He’s only 17. What’s the rush? I can’t see him winning the F2 championship this year so give him at least a second season there. I’d argue Max was too young in 2015. I remember he made me nervous in wheel to wheel scraps, especially in Belgium. Sure Antonelli may be a great future prospect but getting him in too early can only damage his career prospects. I’d be looking to secure Sainz for 2 years and look to 2027 for Antonelli.
MichaelN
5th June 2024, 11:36
That depends on his contract, I guess. Given the ‘post-F2 void’ so many drivers have fallen into, young guys would be quite silly to sign long-term contracts without any guarantees of a race seat. Mercedes might well have to move Antonelli into an F1 seat next year or the year after that – or lose him.
This might be especially pressing given Mercedes’ current situation. It’s one thing to put Russell at Williams for many years while the manufacturer team is winning titles. It’s quite another to ask that when the team is languishing in the bottom half of the points. It’s not exactly something worth waiting two or three years for if other opportunities become available (as Webber and Piastri astutely observed).
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th June 2024, 21:27
Yes, good point about merc seat being now less worth waiting for than before.
I was also thinking that if I were sainz I wouldn’t want to be replaced after a year at mercedes, in case they give antonelli a year at williams first.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
5th June 2024, 10:58
I can’t claim to be an expert on F2 nor Antonelli. I watch perhaps 50% of F2 and F3 races over the past decade but don’t follow the teams closely – only the 45 mins of racing. Having grown up watching a lot of nepobabies (Rosberg, Piquet, Magnussen, Verstappen, Palmer, Schumacher, Senna, Sainz etc), I’ve tried to gauge a driver’s talents on their own merits and not the hype surrounding them. Truthfully, I don’t see Antonelli as a stand out. I’m old enough to remember stellar junior careers of 2 other Italians – Liuzzi (7 wins and 2 2nds for 10 races in F3000) and Pantano, a karting genius, who also came in with huge promise and achieved very little.
I’m going to outline a crude, probably unfair given his age, comparison between some of the top drivers on the grid first.
Max – 10 wins, 7 poles at 16yo from 33 rounds. Huge potential, promoted to Toro Rosso – a team built for young driver development.
Charles – 7 wins, 8 poles from 11 rounds, 22 races. F2 and GP3 Champion – moves to junior F1 team at the back of the grid
George – 8 wins, 5 poles from 12 rounds, 24 races. F2 and F3 Champion – moves to junior F1 team at the back of the grid
Oscar – 6 wins, 5 poles from 8 rounds, 24 races. F2 and F3 Champion – test driver role in F1
Carlos – 7 wins, 7 poles from 18 rounds. FR3.5 Champion – promoted to Toro Rosso – a team built for young driver development.
Lando – 9 wins, 8 poles from 30 races in Euro F3. 1 pole, 1 win in F2 – 2nd in the Championship – moves to McLaren, 6th in 2018 Championship (not higher than 5th since 2012)
Seb – 18 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd in 20 races in F BMW, 2nd in Euro F3 (4 wins form 20, 5 poles from 10). FR3.5 1 win top of the championship when promoted to Toro Rosso in ’07. One off 8th for BMW at Indy.
Lewis – 15 wins, 13 poles from 20 in Euro F3. 5 wins, 1 pole from 21 races in GP2. GP2 Champion, Euro F3 Champion – moves to McLaren, one of the best teams in the sport.
Moving onto Antonelli himself – 13 wins from 19 in F4 is obviously impressive, similar to Vettel in F BMW. 4 poles from 10, 4 wins, 5 2nd places from 20 and the Championship in FRECA. No poles, no wins, no podiums from 5 rounds, 10 races in F2.
Now, I’m not saying that Antonelli can’t be a champion, or that he doesn’t deserve a place on the grid. But he’ll have to have a near perfect strike rate over the second half of the season be comparable to the list of drivers above. I think he’s a solid driver, but I think this relentless “replace Lewis” hypetrain has either a) inflated his market value or b) forced a 17yo into a corner and he’s not driving to his ability under pressure.
I think it would be to everyone’s benefit to put him in the Williams for 2 years, perhaps bringing Valterri back to help develop the car before the regulation change. I think putting him in the same seat as Lewis, and expecting Lewis 2007 results, is totally unrealistic given his career so far.
CP
5th June 2024, 11:17
Gosh Lewis and Seb really were something special.
Deerhunter
5th June 2024, 12:05
Statistics don’t lie, but they also only tell you part of the story.
Charles’ F2 season has probably the weakest field in modern F2. While Piastri raced under the much-maligned triple-header format that was swiftly dropped after only a single season.
And as much as people like to clamor that F2 is a spec series, the team matters just as much as the driver. Prema has struggled throughout the season so far, with the pecking order looking like nothing what pre-season testing has suggested.
That being said, I do agree the focus on Antonelli and Bearman has unfairly taken the shine away from other standout drivers, especially former Merc junior Aron, who’s been consistent in his full debut season.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
7th June 2024, 7:33
yeah, there are far better racers in F2. Antonelli is incapable of passing in F2, which means he really doesn’t know what hes doing really, and doesn’t have the extra edge to make space for himself. Bearman is much better than Antonelli, but it’s hard for me to tell. Hadjar and Aron are great examples of quality drivers in F2.
As for Charles, I dunno, I think hes overrated, and hes the #1 driver on the team, so his qualifying results are untested. We will see what happens after Lewis shows up, chances are he might have to learn a few things from his older teammate.
Hans Herrmann (@twentyseven)
5th June 2024, 12:42
@rbalonson Great breakdown, it does give you a rough gauge and I’d agree that Antonelli doesn’t have the same record as some of the greats of the sport had.
Some factors to consider though:
Top end talent is hard to come by and teams can’t afford to drag their feet and let them become the competition (as per the Alpine/Piastri mess!).
Teams also have the raw data for comparison which I’m sure talent scouts use to gauge talent. There are some things that the great drivers can do consistently in a car that others simply cannot. Possibly Antonelli’s data suggests that he’s worth getting on board ASAP.
Mercedes probably have their eye on 2026 at this stage, Antonelli could get half a year in Williams a full year with Merc and be ready to rock come 2026 and the new regs..
Mooa42
5th June 2024, 23:10
@rbalonso When comparing your breakdown of drivers (top work on the breakdown, thanks!) the outlier I see with Kimi in F2 is that he has jumped the F3 training ground and landed in a team that isn’t running at the front where they normally do. All the other drivers, apart from Max, have made the progression through the normal stepping stones, so I think it’s fair to give Kimi some extra kudos for his F2 results
Adam (@rocketpanda)
5th June 2024, 11:14
The problem for him now is they’ve hyped him up so much that if he came in and was unimpressive, or took time to learn and grow, he’d have a rough time. We’ve seen drivers that are promoted perhaps a little too early struggle a little and are either dropped entirely or ‘moved back’ to ‘lower’ teams – and are rarely, if ever promoted back. Also, why the rush? If he’s as good as Mercedes think, give him the space and time to be that, get even better and be better prepared – F1 isn’t going anywhere.
mars
5th June 2024, 13:58
From what I watched, if you want to compare someone to Max, Bearman is the more likely choice imo. Although it is hard and early to judge his overall raw speed in F1, his commanding car control, how he is able to closely follow and pass a rival, immediately reminds Max to me. His car control is something special, I’m sure there is a natural talent as he can, without hesitation and precisely, make small and big corrections to the fierce force underneath trying to get out of the tire grip. He makes the whole thing seem so simple that all you see is a accelerating car instead of going out of shape.
Like many here, all I wish is good for these young exciting talents.
sam
5th June 2024, 16:46
I wish him well. That headline is a lot of pressure to put on someone who has zero F1 races under his belt.
CarWars (@maxv)
5th June 2024, 18:16
I think the underestimated part is how quick F1 is and much you need to be able to manage the complexity (during race, setups and tires). Some racers just fail the top level but can be great for WEC, Indycar or Formula E.
Neil (@neilosjames)
5th June 2024, 19:24
At F2 stage you can get an idea, but really it’s no more than a dice-roll as to whether they can cut it in F1. One of the strongest ‘certain he’s F1 standard’ picks of my motorsport watching life was someone who didn’t make the grade.
Antonelli could well be the next Verstappen, but he could just as easily be the next Vandoorne.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th June 2024, 21:39
Being the next verstappen is really difficult, I think it’s be more likely for him to turn out like vandoorne than verstappen, but I’m expecting somewhere in the middle.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
7th June 2024, 7:35
Who ever has the best power unit is the next verstappen, so it is possible, but in all reality, Red Bull has been the best team for over 14 years, so the chances of anyone else beating Max is highly unlikely. Unless the rules make it so, which is the whole point of the rules.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
7th June 2024, 18:26
I’ve been seriously unimpressed by the general standard of racing in the 2024 F2 snippets I’ve seen, and if the Oliver Bearman F1 vs F2 performance is anything to go by, F2 is of little use this year in determining whether someone is F1-grade, let alone comparable to any given driver in the series.
I think I’d have to see Kimi in a F1 FP1 context to get a better idea of his suitability for F1, before having even the degree of certainty I would have had if he’d been in a previous F2 season. As it stands, he is good enough for sportscars but there’s no way to tell if F1 is within his abilities.
Dale
7th June 2024, 18:47
Seems hyped up and yet to deliver on that hype on a big stage … also seems a little silver spoon fed by Mercedes and Prema. Left to his own devices, like other drivers, who knows what he would have achieved so far.