Partnering George Russell at Mercedes in the course of the 2025 System 1 season shall be 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has big footwear to fill after taking the seat vacated by Lewis Hamilton
Picture: Getty Photos)
Kimi Antonelli has been suggested to not “power” success in his first season with Mercedes.
The 18-year-old this yr turns into the youngest driver on the grid after his promotion to System 1. He fills the appreciable void left at Mercedes by Lewis Hamilton, who’s now formally a Ferrari driver nearly 12 months on from his choice to modify groups.
From very early on, Silver Arrows boss Toto Wolff needed to offer the place to Antonelli. He tried to unsettle Max Verstappen on the peak of discord behind the scenes at Purple Bull however, as quickly as he knew the Dutchman wasn’t going to maneuver for 2025, the Austrian’s full focus turned to the younger expertise Mercedes already had on the books.
Antonelli comes into F1 as team-mate and understudy to George Russell, who carried out properly up towards Hamilton over three seasons. Placing him up towards the Brit in a prime workforce immediately is, within the eyes of Purple Bull academy chief Helmut Marko, a daring transfer.
“Antonelli is a threat,” he advised Germany’s Sport.de. “If he skilfully implements his clearly current strengths and velocity and builds himself up slowly, then he can turn into a menace. If he tries to power it, then I feel his profession can also be at risk someplace.”
Wolff has been eager to minimize Antonelli’s prospects of setting the F1 world alight in his debut season. Talking in regards to the job his younger Italian racer faces, the Mercedes chief made it clear there shall be no expectation of perfection in 2025.
He stated of his workforce’s possibilities over the approaching season: “I feel the chance is there to battle for victories, and if you are able to do that, you’ll battle for the championship.
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“George will settle in because the main and senior driver, and Kimi goes to be taught, and generally we are going to tear our hair out, and different occasions, we are going to see moments of brilliance. However it’ll be a yr of managing expectations for Kimi and making ready our driver line-up for 2026.
“Once you take a look at the wins this yr, Purple Bull’s yr was outlined by victories in the beginning of the yr, however you should have higher knowledge when you look from half the yr with 4 groups actually shut.
“McLaren gained six, Ferrari 5, us 4 and Purple Bull [nine]. I’d like to be within the battle with the opposite groups, we might like to compete for victories on advantage, however it’s not a given, it’s completely one thing we have to battle for.”
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