Fresh Kimi Antonelli to Mercedes update with ‘interesting’ seat comments analysed

Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli.

Bernie Collins believes Kimi Antonelli will be ready for F1 next season, but admits Williams would’ve been a “softer landing” than Mercedes for the teenage driver.

Antonelli’s rapid rise through motor racing’s ranks looks set to continue next year after Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff admitted the 17-year-old is his “first option” to replace Lewis Hamilton.

Can Kimi Antonelli do the job for Mercedes next season?

The Italian though, has a few doubts about whether he’ll be ready for the massive challenge of racing for Mercedes.

Speaking after his Feature race victory in Hungary, he said: “I don’t know if I will be ready, to be honest. I’m still learning a lot in F2.

“I definitely still make a lot of mistakes and the details that really matter, I’m still not doing everything right. I just want to be honest.”

Mercedes are preparing him for Formula 1, whether that step comes next season or in 2026, with Antonelli having taken part in three TPC [Testing of Previous Car] outings at the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and more recently at Spa.

Mercedes have not revealed any details about his outings but Collins reckons he should be ready for F1, even if he joins Mercedes with Williams no longer an option after they signed Carlos Sainz.

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“None of us can see what is happening in testing with Antonelli so we don’t know how strong it has been,” the former Aston Martin strategist told the Sky F1 podcast.

“The other series’ results, you can’t look at them on their own, because of car performance and team performance. It is really difficult to get a read. But results have picked up.

“I was interested that he commented he might not be ready himself, which is an interesting comment from a driver. These guys are confident beyond what we can imagine, generally. They’re selling themselves.

“The other interesting aspect is George’s route into Mercedes through Williams, if you think of it as a junior team, who still take their gearbox and engine.

“I wonder if, internally, maybe James Vowles has said they don’t want to be a junior team, and they want to build a team in their own right. That would have been a softer landing for Antonelli, to go through Williams then to the Mercedes seat a year later.

“We were all impressed by Oliver Bearman stepping in Jeddah, he did a fantastic job in the Ferrari when potentially for Ferrari it would have been safer to take Magnussen or Hulkenberg from their ‘junior’ team [Haas] if you want to put it that way. Next year, Bearman is going into the Haas.

“It’s interesting the two different ways that Mercedes and Ferrari have attacked the younger guys that they want in their car.

“But I have no doubt they can step up to the mark when they’re asked to do it and he’ll see it as his chance to prove himself well in that car and if the amount of testing that we’re led to believe he’s doing, he should be ready for it.”

Her fellow pundit Craig Slater replied: “I think Antonelli is the most interesting one, and I can’t see another option for Mercedes, I just can’t.”

Mercedes team boss Wolff believes bringing Antonelli in as George Russell’s 2025 team-mate would be a “calculated risk”, telling Autosport Wereld: “At the moment, my first option is Kimi Antonelli.

“Of course, there are risks. They are not so much in his talent as a driver, but Antonelli would be exposed to the media and to the skill of George Russell, one of the best drivers on the grid.

“But Kimi has enormous potential. His speed and talent are already at a certain level, he just lacks the experience.

“So I’m happy to take a risk with Antonelli, because it’s a calculated risk.”

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