Mercedes’ young star Kimi Antonelli shines through in rainy Miami weekend
When Lewis Hamilton infamously announced he was leaving Mercedes, his home of 12 years and the site of six of his seven world championships, at the end of 2024 to jump-ship to Ferrari, team principal Toto Wolff was left with the difficult decision of who would replace such a presence.
In August it was announced that 18-year-old rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli had earned the seat, having participated, and crashed, in a practice session at his home track in Monza the same weekend.
Yet despite early criticism, Antonelli has impressed in his debut races with the Silver Arrows. Wolff’s decision seeming to have paid dividends the most when Antonelli rocketed to sprint pole in Miami, becoming the youngest pole sitter in any format in the sport’s history and setting a then-record-breaking fastest lap at the Miami International Autodrome on debut at the track.
On Friday, Antonelli plugged in a lap of 1:26.482, beating last year’s pole time by over seven tenths. But hopes of a first victory for the teenager was dashed at the first corner of a rain-affected sprint when Oscar Piastri launched to the inside and defended against the rookie.
A lack of experience meant he went off track and rejoined in fourth - spending the rest of the wet spell defending against teammate George Russell. Things got worse when a planned opportunistic pit stop from Mercedes, which aimed to transition Antonelli to slick tyres when the track had dried, was contravened by poor pit stop management from Red Bull meant Verstappen was released into the debutant’s path – resulting in damage and time loss for both drivers.
After eventually pitting correctly, Antonelli emerged down in twelfth, recovered to tenth on the road but was promoted to seventh after a flurry of post-race penalties – earning the Italian 2 consolation points in an afternoon of what could have been.
Supportive radio messages from race engineer Peter Bonnington and Wolff seemingly spurred the rookie on as he superbly qualified third for the Grand Prix – pipping championship leader Piastri on his final run.
In contrast to the sprint, Antonelli had a good start – benefitting from Verstappen and Lando Norris’ tussle for the lead which elevated him to second. Once the McLarens eventually became their usual commanding force, they progressed to and maintained first and second for the rest of the race.
The 2023 Formula Regional European champion’s inexperience of defending also left him vulnerable to Williams’ Alex Albon after pitting, who overtook the rookie to relegate him to fifth.
Antonelli won 4 titles between 2022 and 2023 and became the youngest multiple race winner in F2 during his rapid rise to F1. Mercedes’ protégé’s consistent scoring in the opening rounds ranks him sixth in the standings, which has contributed to Mercedes’ fine second place in the constructors’ standings.
Ignoring setbacks, if Miami demonstrated Antonelli’s abilities as a rookie, then in a few years’ time we could see him crowned a world champion and hailed a generational talent, as Wolff hopes to have foreseen.
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