12 months ago, Kimi Antonelli still couldn’t legally race in Formula 1. Without special dispensation, the Italian was still a little under two weeks away from turning 18 and being able to get his FIA Super License.
But he already knew he was going to be a Mercedes driver in 2025.
Following a testing of previous car (TPC) run at Spa-Francorchamps ahead of last year’s summer break, Antonelli showed steps forward in race pace that helped convince Mercedes he was worth betting on as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement.
Antonelli himself acknowledges it was a bet, albeit a very methodically calculated one, given he he says he has “massively” developed over the past year.
“I think of the steep curve of how much I’ve learned,” Antonelli reflects. “Already from last year when I was going to the races with the team – even though I was not participating, I was not driving, still to see and to have a look was a really good learning and also trying to understand how much work there is behind, not only on track, but outside the track as well.
“So I feel I’ve been learning a lot and also I feel like I’m much more in hand of the situation, which definitely I wasn’t when I was told about it.”
When Antonelli was announced, something his now-teammate George Russell said stood out. Russell made the point that experience would help the rookie improve, but it wouldn’t make him any quicker – that was an aspect that already needed to be in place.
“I think I’ve always believed that you gain a lot over time with experience, in terms of how to deal with the race weekend, the tires, the team, but I don’t believe I’m any faster today on raw pace than I was when I was 17 years old,” Russell said.
“And I think you’ve either got the speed or you don’t have the speed, and Kimi absolutely has the speed. He’s proven that in all of his categories.”
Teammate George Russell is confident in Antonelli’s raw speed. Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
Russell said there would be mistakes, and that is all part of the learning curve. Looking back now, Antonelli is in agreement that his raw speed hasn’t changed, but says his ability to handle other aspects of being a Formula 1 driver are areas he has had to develop.
Mercedes did more than just give him TPC outings. There was plenty of integration into the team both at and away from race weekends, and also programs such as media training, where he faced mock press conferences and broadcast pens at the start of this year. External professionals were brought in and interviewed Antonelli, with the 18-year-old watching back his appearances to understand body language and interactions.
That came after Mercedes had already had Antonelli doing media and sponsor commitments last year, exposing him to some of the distractions that can become draining for a driver. It’s an area the rookie still admits took him some time to identify as so crucial.
“I think first of all, taking time for myself [has been a big lesson]. I understood it a bit late during this first half of the season, but it’s something that is very crucial.
“I think understanding that I need time for myself. I need time especially to get ready and to get into the right mode, into the right mood, and in order to be as fresh as possible when I get back in the car.
“Because I feel like there’s some races where I didn’t really manage things that well outside the track. And I was kind of draining my battery down. And then when I was going back in the car, I was not fresh mentally. I was kind of tired and I just couldn’t do things the way I wanted to do them.
“Even though I was really trying hard, I just wasn’t able just because I was tired mentally and I couldn’t do it.
“So I’ve been really understanding that, especially when you get triple-headers. The first triple-header I did obviously was abroad. And for me, it was much easier than the triple-header in Europe. But because the second triple-header in Europe, I started off with my home race, obviously a lot of emotion, my first home race. But that was the first race where I understood that I did so many things wrong outside the car.
“I remember just already by the end of Friday, I was exhausted. I was exhausted and I knew it would have been difficult just because I was tired mentally. And then because of that, it kind of carried this into the next couple of races. And that was not easy. But now I understand much better.”
The next triple-header that Antonelli will face is will be the final three races of the season. That feels a long way away – and a major challenge from Las Vegas to a Qatar Sprint and then Abu Dhabi – but somewhat ironically it has been the more familiar locales that have proven troublesome for the Mercedes protégé.
The first podium of his career in Canada provides an anomaly amid a tough European run of races, one that only yielded a first point on the continent courtesy of tenth place in Budapest.
“I also think in the European season, I’ve been putting a bit of unnecessary pressure on myself, just because, obviously, I was driving on tracks that I knew already.
“That’s why I felt like in tracks that I didn’t know, I’ve been performing much better, just because I had no expectation and I was just driving naturally and then see what was happening, what was coming as a result.
“And when in European races, I was like, ‘okay, it’s a track I know I must do well.’ But then this made me drive tense and not relaxed and with more pressure, and that affected the performance as well.”
A high point has been Antonelli’s podium in Motreal. Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
In many ways, it creates a strange flow to the year so far. Antonelli was hugely impressive early on, but a suspension upgrade that made the car trickier to drive in Imola has coincided with his own mistakes relating to heightened expectations and pressure, and a downturn in results. Taking a step back, Antonelli says the year has still featured higher highs than he would have been predicting at this stage, but his focus now is on achieving that standard more regularly, and knowing how he has done it.
“I think definitely in some ways I exceeded what I was expecting. Definitely I didn’t expect to get pole that early or to get the podium. Of course, the mindset is always to go there and win – obviously going in to the season, you’re super excited and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go there and try to win first race’ … but then obviously, once you have a better picture, you also start to be a bit more realistic of the situation and you start to see where you have to work.
“So definitely, in some ways, I exceeded my expectations, even though the goal is always the same one, which is winning. In other ways, I feel like I’ve been underperforming. And I think in some weekends, I’ve been even a bit too conservative on the approach, because obviously, I’m trying to get as much mileage as possible to do as much learning as possible.
“It’s like having a lock. And I feel like I haven’t been able to unleash my full potential because of this. Now that I’ve experienced the situation more in hand, I’m trying to have a bit of a different approach and trying to now explore the limit more. And if the mistake happens, it’s okay, as long as I have a better understanding of where the limit is of the car and how much I can push it, then it’s gonna just help me for the future.
“But in the situation where I am now, I still don’t know how much more the car can give. I know the car can give me quite a bit more, but I don’t know how much more. So the thing I’m trying to do now is to try to explore this limit more.
“So it’s a bit of a less conservative approach and trying to push more in order also to arrive more ready for qualifying, because I feel like recently I’ve been arriving at qualifying with too many question marks.”
Searching for those answers is not an easy task, as Antonelli says it’s fair to describe it as trying to find the key to that lock.
“Yeah, exactly – I think mostly when it comes to qualifying. Of course I’m learning and I’m experiencing, but I think when it comes to race pace, I feel way more… I don’t feel I have this lock. Of course, I’m not fully there, but I’m much closer. In qualifying, I’m still finding this key to unlock the full potential.”
It’s a challenge Mercedes and Antonelli knew they would face in his rookie season, and the patience that both team and driver are approaching it with gives him every chance of opening the door to consistent performances sooner rather than later.
