OK, the headline is perhaps just a little untimely given Kimi Antonelli remains to be solely 19 years outdated, however the actual fact he’s solely 19 years outdated and capable of produce performances like those over the previous few days at Interlagos is outstanding.
The hype round Antonelli was large even earlier than he bought near Formulation 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 pace over 90 % of a flying lap, till the Italian crashed at Parabolica.
A day later, he was confirmed as one of many group’s race drivers for 2025, and the thrill went up one other stage, however so did the priority that it would simply be just a little 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 yr in F2 honing his craft and gaining expertise earlier than making the step up, or not less than creating at one other group 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 may have nonetheless raised comparable questions. Since then the Italian has demonstrated a step ahead that maybe would solely have been potential by being a part of the Mercedes lineup.
Higher performances in Baku and Singapore have been encouraging, as was a sixth place forward of George Russell in Mexico Metropolis, nevertheless it was the best way he put every thing collectively for a whole 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,” group principal Wolff mentioned. “Perhaps it was coming to a monitor that he did not know, it is a bit simpler. Expectations are perhaps decrease. Perhaps stress shouldn’t 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 moderen and softer tire, that was actually sturdy and testomony to what’s to come back.
“I feel it is also managing his personal expectations. He is so younger. He is simply 19 years outdated. You come to a monitor the place you already know that you’ve got carried out very effectively prior to now – among the European ones – and you then’re on the again foot…
“You will have 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, everyone else’s expectations are decrease, the form of fan stress is lower than among the European tracks. I feel that performs a giant function.
“It is a growth. Subsequent yr he’ll come to those tracks that he is aware of, with out anticipating to kill it. That is the training yr, the yr that we all the time anticipated to come back, with all of the ups and downs.
“In the present day is an up, undoubtedly a great second. There will probably be tougher ones, however let’s examine the subsequent few races. I feel we’re seeing the younger boy changing into a younger man and performing.”
Brazil was a complete bundle for the Italian teen, minus what’s clearly an imminent win. Mark Thompson/Getty Photographs
For Antonelli himself, it’s a weekend that offers him loads of confidence, displaying that he can’t solely show potential, however ship on that potential with an entire weekend.
“I’ve had a great run thus far, a few sturdy races,” Antonelli mentioned. “This weekend was the weekend the place we put issues extra collectively, which is what I must do, particularly for the group. I have been having fun with this weekend so much and searching ahead to the subsequent ones.”
One second in Antonelli’s race that perhaps wasn’t supreme: the beginning and restart. He needed to defend on each events and was hit by Oscar Piastri on the security 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 just a little bit on the moist patch, so I bought wheel spin and misplaced momentum going into Flip 1,” the rookie mentioned. “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 come back away from that, as a result of clearly I hit Charles fairly laborious.
“Sadly, I ended his race, however on my aspect, I used to be fortunate to come back away with not such large injury. I had minor injury on the automobile – I feel the steering wheel was not absolutely straight – however I used to be very fortunate to come back 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 purpose to be enthusiastic about his potential was when below immense stress from Verstappen within the closing laps.
“[It was] method too traumatic,” he mentioned. “When Max did the final pit cease and Bono (race engineer Peter Bonnington) instructed me the hole, I used to be like, ‘I is perhaps in bother,’ 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 a tremendous job coming again and he simply put me below loads of stress on the finish. I needed to actually push the tire to the restrict and it wasn’t straightforward, however I feel we did our greatest and I am actually proud of 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 can even level to its dedication to Antonelli’s rookie yr 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 part of Russell in profitable races with regularity.
