KimiAntonelli

Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s rise to the F1 grid has been nothing short of meteoric.

Son of sportscar racer Marco, the Bologna native was scouted by Mercedes during a karting career that saw him collect a scarcely believable number of winner's trophies.

He went on to make his car racing debut aged just 15, with more titles swiftly following – in both the Italian and ADAC F4 championships in 2022 and the Formula Regional Middle East and European categories a year later.

Most onlookers saw F3 as the logical next move, but Mercedes already knew they had a star on their hands and decided that promotion to F2 – effectively skipping a step on the ladder – would better serve their latest hot prospect.

It was always going to be a lot to ask of the teenager, with the noise around his future prospects only growing when Lewis Hamilton dropped the bombshell that he would be swapping Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025 – opening up a spot alongside George Russell.

Antonelli got his head down to make a solid rather than spectacular start to life in F2, consistently scoring points, but not yet reaching the podium, while his Prema Racing team and the rest of the grid tried to understand the nuances of the series’ new car package.

Then, midway through the season, Antonelli started to show a much larger audience what he could do – while delivering on the faith that Mercedes talent spotter Gwen Lagrue and team boss Toto Wolff had placed in him.

A breakthrough Sprint victory in the rain at Silverstone was followed by a maiden Feature win at the Hungaroring, before he left the paddock speechless at Spa-Francorchamps with a stunningly brave wet-weather move on Franco Colapinto into Eau Rouge.

Mercedes had seen enough and, shortly after Antonelli’s 18th birthday, the squad announced at the Italian Grand Prix that the home favourite would indeed be replacing seven-time world champion Hamilton at the Silver Arrows.

A heavy crash on his practice debut at Monza took the shine off the news, but another, much cleaner FP1 run in Mexico and thousands of miles in older Mercedes machinery should prepare Antonelli well for the challenge ahead…