But how will He perform under such pressure?
Rightly or wrongly, this Italian teenager seems
to have the biggest spotlight of our five Formula 1 rookies upon His shoulders
this year. Presumably since He’s replacing legendous’ Sir Lewis at the Silver
arrows…
Andrea
Kimi Antonelli
Team: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Nationality: Italian
Birthplace: Bologna, Emilia-Romagna
DOB: August 25, 2006; Age: 18
Car No. 12
As I’ve already scribbled above, the youngest
driver on the Formula 1 grid for 2025 is also thought to be the most
sensational. Nevertheless, the young Italian will also have the most pressure
to perform for Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement…
Andrea or Kimi’s as most are now calling Him,
Father Marco is a Sports Car racer in Saloons, winning the 2018 Italian GT
championship and currently runs the Family’s AMK Motorsports racing team, which
has competed in the Italian F4 championship since 2022.
Kimi, like Gabriel Bortoleto, both claim the
late Ayrton Senna as their Idol! With Antonelli having drawn inspiration from
Senna’s use of the number 12 in formula 1, along with using the number during
His stitnt driving for Prema in Junior formulaes.
Interestingly, both Antonelli and fellow F1
rookie Jack Doohan requested the No. 12 as their car number, but since Kimi
asked first, He got the number ahead of Doohan…
Reputedly a family friend gave Antonelli’s
father Marco the name Kimi in deference to that Ice Cream eating Kimi
Raikkonen. Since Marco was set upon giving His son a boring middle name.
Thus, with All of the hyperbole out of the way,
let’stake a brief gander at Kimi’s racing “CV”. (career) As Kimi also began
competitive Karting at age seven, and was a prodigious Karting talent. Winning
too numerous championships to chronicle, along with suffering a broken leg
during a wet weather accident.
Antonelli was spotted by Giovanni Minardi early
on , and quickly signed to Minardi Management. Before winning multiple karting
titles driving for Rosberg Racing Academy. Hmm, why does it sound like He was
already headed for the pinicle of motorsports so early on, Eh?
For 2021, Kimi made His single seater debut in
Italian Formula 4 following His 15th birthday, contesting a partial season and
finishing a respectable P10 overall.
Remaining with Prema Powerteam, Antonelli claimed
both the 2022 Italian and ADAC Formula 4 championships along with a Gold Medal
in the FIA Motorsports Games. As Kimi dominated the Italian F4 series with a
record 13 wins, including six consecutive victories! Then followed that up by
claiming the ADAC F4 title. Having amassed 26 wins, 24 poles and 37 podiums in
67 Formula 4 starts, the second most successful in F4 History!
The following year, He graduated to the Formula
Regional European Championship, where once again He secured another title
driving for Prema, along with that year’s inaugural FR Middle East Championship
driving for Mumbai Falcons.
Thus, Kimi’s “Star” shone brightly! Having
secured two titles in Formula 3, the Italian prodigy skipped the FIA formula 3
Championship, Preceding directly to FIA Formula 2 the following year, again
with Prema. Where His teammate would be Ferrari Driver Academy member Oliver
Bearman.
Reportedly Prema initially struggled with the
Formula 2 Ground Effects chassis, seeing both drivers get off to a slow start.
Kimi scored His maiden F2 win in the wet Silverstone Sprint race, and then
clamed a Feature race win at Budapest.
Antonelli withdrew from the season finale Abu
Dhabi F2 weekend due to illness and finished sixth overall in the championship
on the back of His two wins. And then took part in the afternoon session of the
post Abu Dhabi F1 Young Drivers test, where naturally He was the fastest
rookie.
Antonelli was signed as a Mercedes Junior
Driver in 2018 at age 12! Making me think of another youngster name Lewis
Hamilton’s signing by thee Ronster’, aka Ron Dennis of McLaren fame Wayback’
when…
Antonelli got His first taste of Formula 1
machinery in April, 2019 when He drove a Mercedes W12 at the Red bull ring in
Spielberg, followed by further private tests at Imola and Spa-francorchamps.
The “Kimi” rule, re-allowing 17 year olds to
hold FIA Super licence’s, enabled Antonelli to make His Free Practice debut at
Monza that fall. Antonelli set the fastest lap time before spinning at Curva
Alboreto just ten minutes into the FP1 session, colliding with the tyre
barriers in a 52G incident! And then participated in another F1 practice
session at Mexico City. Once again incurring damage to His Mercedes chassis
upon running over debris and damaging the W15’s floor…
Antonelli has been undergoing an extensive testing programme over the winter in preparations for His Formula 1 debut alongside team leader George Russell. And passed His public driving test just six weeks prior to the season opener at Melbourne. As Italians must be at least 18 years old before being eligible for a Drivers licence…