In 2025, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. Many did not consider the team’s decision trivial, as Kimi has no experience in Formula 1.
Usually debutants spend several seasons in small teams, and if they achieve results, they receive an invitation to move to a leading team. This happened in the case of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, and George Russell switched from Williams to Mercedes in the same scenario.
Brackley team manager Toto Wolff explained why he decided to invite Antonelli to Mercedes immediately, rather than waiting for the young driver to gain experience at another team.
Toto Wolff: “It is time for a generational change after Lewis has left, because nothing will ever be the same again. Next year we will be dealing with a young team. Working in the new season with George and Antonelli means we are starting a new era. The last one was great, but it’s time to turn the page and start again.
The reason Antonelli is making his debut at Mercedes instead of Williams is that we want him to be fresh, so to speak, untainted by external experiences. If he had made his debut in a different team, he would have learned different things, had a different way of working and had different ideas about technical issues.
We want to avoid this. I think we will benefit from having a young rider with us from the start.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.