Okay, the headline may be a bit premature considering Kimi Antonelli is only 19 years old, but the very fact that he is only 19 years old and is able to produce performances like those of recent days at Interlagos is remarkable.
The hype surrounding Antonelli was already high before he got close to Formula 1, let alone when Mercedes brought him in for an FP1 session at Monza just after his 18th birthday and Toto Wolff started waxing lyrical about his astonishing speed of more than 90 percent of a flying lap, until the Italian crashed at Parabolica.
A day later he was confirmed as one of the team’s drivers for 2025, and the excitement went to the next level, but also the concern that it might be just a little too much, too soon. Not that anyone doubted Antonelli’s talent, but whether he would be better off spending another year in F2 to hone his craft and gain experience before making the step up, or at least develop with another team away from the spotlight. Considering Wolff described Antonelli’s most recent performance in Monza as ‘disappointing’, it wasn’t that long ago that you could still have been asking similar questions. Since then, the Italian has shown a step forward that might only have been possible by being part of the Mercedes range.
Better performances in Baku and Singapore were encouraging, as was sixth place for George Russell in Mexico City, but it was the way he put everything together for an entire sprint weekend in Brazil that stood out.
Second to Lando Norris in every session that mattered, Antonelli has been Mercedes’ leader over the past three days.
“I think he was strong all weekend from the start. It’s good to see,” said team boss Wolff. “Maybe it came on a track he didn’t know, it’s a bit easier. The expectations might be lower. Maybe the pressure isn’t as high as some Europeans and then in the end the execution was flawless.”
“Being able to fend off Max (Verstappen) on a newer and softer tire was very strong and proof of what is to come.
“I think it’s also managing his own expectations. He’s so young. He’s only 19 years old. You come to a track where you know you’ve performed very well in the past – some of the European ones – and then you’re in the background…
“You have a sensational teammate who is as good as they come. I think coming to a track you don’t know is almost like less pressure. Your expectations are lower, everyone else’s expectations are lower, the kind of fan pressure is less than some European tracks. I think that plays a big role.”
“It is a development. Next year he will come to the circuits he knows, without expecting to kill them. That is the learning year, the year we always expected, with all the ups and downs.”
“Today is a good moment, certainly a good moment. There will be more difficult ones, but let’s look at the next few races. I think we see the young boy becoming a young man and performing.”
Brazil was a total package for the Italian youngster, minus what is clearly an imminent victory. Mark Thompson/Getty Images
For Antonelli himself, it is a weekend that gives him a lot of confidence, showing that he can not only show potential, but also realize that potential with a complete weekend.
“I’ve had a good run so far, some strong races,” said Antonelli. “This weekend was the weekend where we aligned things better, and that’s what I have to do, especially for the team. I really enjoyed this weekend and am looking forward to the next one.”
One moment in Antonelli’s race that may not have been ideal: the start and restart. He had to defend both times and was hit by Oscar Piastri at the safety car restart when he went three wide with Charles Leclerc. Piastri was penalized but Antonelli admits he was on the back foot in the corner and was lucky to go further.
“I accelerated a bit in the wet, which caused me to have wheelspin and lose momentum going into Turn 1,” the rookie said. “To be honest, I was in a very difficult position because I had one car on the outside and one car on the inside.
“I tried to brake late, not too late. The problem is I couldn’t see the car next to me anymore. I was still trying to keep a decent line for the position I was in, but I ended up getting hit. I was lucky to get away from that because I obviously hit Charles quite hard.”
“Unfortunately I ended his race, but on my side I was lucky that I didn’t get away with such major damage. I had a little damage to the car – I think the steering wheel wasn’t quite straight – but I was very lucky to get away with it and continue my race.”
The performances from then on were impressive enough, but as Wolff said, Antonelli showed even more reason to be excited about his potential when he was under immense pressure from Verstappen in the closing laps.
“[It was] far too stressful,” he said. “When Max did the last pit stop and Bono (race engineer Peter Bonnington) told me the gap, I thought, ‘I might be in trouble’ because he was only nine seconds behind. It was clear he was using new softs.
“This race he had a really strong pace. He did a great job when he came back and he just put a lot of pressure on me at the end. I really had to push the tire to the limit and it wasn’t easy, but I think we did our best and I’m very happy with that.”
“I found my rhythm. When he got closer, I obviously increased the pace and started pushing a little more. I found my rhythm. With this car, with dirty air, it’s a bit hard to follow, so I tried to use that to my advantage and it paid off.”
Mercedes will also point out that its commitment to Antonelli’s rookie year is paying off, because if the company has a car competing in the championship in 2026, he will start to show signs of being able to win races regularly alongside Russell.
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