Kimi Antonelli not sure he will replace Lewis Hamilton in 2025

Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli has revealed he is not sure he wants to fill Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 seat at Mercedes, with the seven-time world champion moving to Ferrari for the 2025 season.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has heaped praise on the 17-year-old driver and is seriously considering him driving alongside George Russell. Wolff has also put Carlos Sainz on the waiting list for the 2025 seat as he takes his time choosing a suitable candidate.

Antonelli has come under increased scrutiny after his Prema Racing teammate Oliver Bearman secured a Formula 1 contract with Haas for next season. Both drivers have endured challenging campaigns with their teams, although Antonelli’s recent results have been more positive, opening up a 51-point gap between the pair.

However, in a fairly candid interview, Kimi Antonelli clarified that he is not sure if he is ready for Formula 1 in 2025, as he remains focused on improving himself in F2. He told RacingNews365:

“I don’t know if I’ll be ready for it, to be honest.

“I’m still learning a lot in F2, and I’m definitely still making quite a few mistakes, (and there are) a few details that really matter, and I’m still not getting them right. I’m still not getting everything right.

“I’m trying to improve myself and not make the same mistakes again. I think today is proof of that.”

Antonelli took his first feature race win of the F2 season with Prema Racing in Hungary, just two weeks after taking his first sprint victory during the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone. Despite the performance, the Italian junior driver stressed that nothing is official for 2025 and he prefers not to dwell on it. Instead, he is focused on delivering his best performance in F2. He added:

“I don’t really want to think about next year yet, because nothing is official yet and I honestly don’t know anything yet.

“The goal is to have the best year in Formula 2 and to come away with two wins is very good for the mental aspect, but also for the team. We struggled at the beginning of the season, but now we are building momentum.

“In Silverstone it was a win in the wet, so our main focus was on improving in the dry conditions, which we did this weekend.

“Hopefully we can keep this momentum going into Spa (next weekend). Obviously on a different circuit, with slightly higher speeds compared to this circuit. We’ll see how that works out.”