OK, the headline may be a bit untimely given Kimi Antonelli continues to be solely 19 years previous, however the actual fact he’s solely 19 years previous and in a position to produce performances like those over the previous few days at Interlagos is exceptional.
The hype round Antonelli was big even earlier than he received near Components 1, not to mention when Mercedes then put him in for an FP1 session simply after his 18th birthday at Monza and Toto Wolff began waxing lyrical about his beautiful velocity over 90 % of a flying lap, till the Italian crashed at Parabolica.
A day later, he was confirmed as one of many workforce’s race drivers for 2025, and the joy went up one other degree, however so did the priority that it would simply be a bit bit an excessive amount of too quickly. Not that anybody doubted Antonelli’s expertise, however whether or not he can be higher off spending one other 12 months in F2 honing his craft and gaining expertise earlier than making the step up, or not less than growing at one other workforce away from the front-running highlight. Given Wolff described Antonelli’s most up-to-date efficiency at Monza as “underwhelming,” it wasn’t that way back that you possibly can have nonetheless raised related questions. Since then the Italian has demonstrated a step ahead that maybe would solely have been attainable by being a part of the Mercedes lineup.
Higher performances in Baku and Singapore had been encouraging, as was a sixth place forward of George Russell in Mexico Metropolis, nevertheless it was the best way he put all the things collectively for a complete Dash weekend in Brazil that caught the attention.
Second to Lando Norris in each single session that mattered, Antonelli was the Mercedes chief over the previous three days.
“I feel all weekend he was sturdy from the get-go. It is good to see,” workforce principal Wolff stated. “Possibly it was coming to a monitor that he did not know, it is a bit simpler. Expectations are possibly decrease. Possibly stress will not be as excessive as among the Europeans after which the execution was faultless on the finish.
“Having the ability to fend off Max (Verstappen) on a more recent and softer tire, that was actually sturdy and testomony to what’s to return.
“I feel it is also managing his personal expectations. He is so younger. He is simply 19 years previous. You come to a monitor the place that you’ve got carried out very properly previously – among the European ones – and then you definately’re on the again foot…
“You have got a sensational teammate who’s pretty much as good because it will get. I feel coming to a monitor that you do not know is sort of like much less stress. Your expectations are decrease, all people else’s expectations are decrease, the sort of fan stress is lower than among the European tracks. I feel that performs a giant position.
“It is a improvement. Subsequent 12 months he’ll come to those tracks that he is aware of, with out anticipating to kill it. That is the educational 12 months, the 12 months that we at all times anticipated to return, with all of the ups and downs.
“As we speak is an up, undoubtedly a superb second. There can be harder ones, however let’s examine the following few races. I feel we’re seeing the younger boy turning into a younger man and performing.”
Brazil was a complete package deal for the Italian teen, minus what’s clearly an imminent win. Mark Thompson/Getty Photographs
For Antonelli himself, it’s a weekend that provides him loads of confidence, displaying that he cannot solely show potential, however ship on that potential with a whole weekend.
“I’ve had a superb run up to now, a few sturdy races,” Antonelli stated. “This weekend was the weekend the place we put issues extra collectively, which is what I have to do, particularly for the workforce. I have been having fun with this weekend rather a lot and looking out ahead to the following ones.”
One second in Antonelli’s race that possibly wasn’t ultimate: the beginning and restart. He needed to defend on each events and was hit by Oscar Piastri on the protection automobile resumption when going three-wide with Charles Leclerc. Piastri was penalized, however Antonelli admits he was on the again foot into the nook and fortunate to proceed.
“I accelerated a bit bit on the moist patch, so I received wheel spin and misplaced momentum going into Flip 1,” the rookie stated. “To be honest, I discovered myself in a really tough place as a result of I had one automobile on the surface and one automobile on the within.
“I attempted to brake late, not too late. The issue is I did not see the automobile subsequent to me anymore. I nonetheless tried to do a good line for the place I used to be in, and ended up getting hit. I used to be fortunate to return away from that, as a result of clearly I hit Charles fairly onerous.
“Sadly, I ended his race, however on my aspect, I used to be fortunate to return away with not such massive injury. I had minor injury on the automobile – I feel the steering wheel was not totally straight – however I used to be very fortunate to return away with it and to have the ability to proceed my race.”
The efficiency from that time on was spectacular sufficient, however as Wolff alluded to, the place Antonelli confirmed much more cause to be enthusiastic about his potential was when beneath immense stress from Verstappen within the closing laps.
“[It was] approach too traumatic,” he stated. “When Max did the final pit cease and Bono (race engineer Peter Bonnington) instructed me the hole, I used to be like, ‘I may be in hassle,’ as a result of he was simply 9 seconds behind. Clearly, he was on new softs.
“This race he had very sturdy tempo. He did an incredible job coming again and he simply put me beneath loads of stress on the finish. I needed to actually push the tire to the restrict and it wasn’t simple, however I feel we did our greatest and I am actually pleased with that.
“I discovered my rhythm. Clearly, when he was closing in, I raised the tempo, I began to push a bit extra. I discovered my rhythm. With this automobile, with soiled air, it is a bit tough to comply with, so I attempted to make use of that to my benefit and it paid off.”
Mercedes will even level to its dedication to Antonelli’s rookie 12 months as paying off too, as a result of if it has a championship-contending automobile in 2026, he’s beginning to present the indicators that he’ll be capable to be a part of Russell in profitable races with regularity.
