17/04/2024
NEWS STORY
Kimi Antonelli, the potential replacement for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season, has made his F1 testing debut.
The Italian, currently ninth in the F2 standings, having bypassed F3 after winning the Formula Regional European (FRECA) and Formula Regional Middle East Championships in 2023 and the Italian and German F4 championships in 2022, was behind the wheel of the 2021 W12 in Austria.
"It's been an incredible experience, it was really great to feel the power and downforce" he said following the test. "I loved every second of it. It was really good fun and I want to thank all the team for all their hard work.
The test was carried out as part of the German team's heritage programme, which both maintains and runs previous cars in readiness for use in marketing-related activities.
"We did some sim work and ran through some important things ahead of the day," added Antonelli. "That was really useful because once I was out on track, I knew what the team was telling me on the radio."
After two days and 500km in the Styrian hills, his focus now turns back to F2, in which early season highlights have included a P2 in qualifying in Australia and a P4 finish in the race.
"I have learned a lot in these two days, things which will be really helpful when I go back to F2," he said. "But I need to keep working, and keep improving too."
Antonelli has been a member of Mercedes junior programme since 2019 and at Suzuka Toto Wolff admitted that he is under consideration for the 2025 seat alongside George Russell.
"What we have done is added more days," said Wolff in terms of his test programme, "but what you will see in the next few months has been in place, whether or not he's going to sit in a Formula 1 car next year.
"We're going to do a few of these days for him to get comfortable in an F1 car. We want to give him a feeling what a really good car feels like before we put him in the '22.
"Obviously, he's been our young boy since a long time, with James, and we're keen to see what he's able to do in a Formula 1 car. Ollie Bearman was refreshing to look at how competitive he was in Saudi Arabia. No free practice, high speed, complicated track, and he was right up there. So Kimi would be doing just fine."
Picture Credit: Mercedes/X