Mercedes release Andrea Kimi Antonelli FP1 data as Toto Wolff launches stern defence

Andrea Kimi Antonelli: the face of Mercedes’ future

Mercedes F1 2025 signing Andrea Kimi Antonelli was a massive 10-15kph faster than any other driver through two key corners at Monza before his Italian Grand Prix FP1 crash on Friday.

That’s according to Toto Wolff, who has defended the decision to sign the teenager as Lewis Hamilton‘s replacement for the F1 2025 season.

Toto Wolff lifts lid on Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes data

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

Mercedes confirmed on Saturday that Antonelli will become George Russell’s new team-mate from next year, becoming the first Italian to race in F1 on a full-time basis since Antonio Giovinazzi in 2021.

The announcement came less than 24 hours after Antonelli made his first appearance on an F1 race weekend, driving Russell’s car in the opening practice session.

Antonelli’s session ended after just 10 minutes, with the 18-year-old spinning into the barrier at the fearsome Parabolica corner having just set the fastest middle sector of the session until that point.

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Martin Brundle was among those unimpressed by Antonelli’s first outing, with the Sky F1 pundit claiming that a crash “was the last thing he or the team needed” and arguing that the youngster “needed to play himself in somewhat more carefully than that.”

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko, meanwhile, told media including PlanetF1.com that Mercedes had piled “unnecessary pressure” on Antonelli by staging the Bologna-born driver’s first public session at his home race.

Mercedes’ decision to promote Antonelli comes despite the teenager himself questioning whether he would be ready to race in F1 as soon as next season.

Wolff has leapt to Antonelli’s defence, revealing that the youngster was between 10 and 15 kilometres per hour faster than any other driver at Lesmo 2 and the Ascari chicane – two of the most challenging corners on the Monza lap – prior to his “rookie error.”

He told Sky F1: “He was 10-15kmh quicker through the second Lesmo and Ascari than everybody else, quickest in the first session.

“But then the other [drivers] are obviously clever and are distinguishing very well between the first or second flying lap and the rest of the weekend.

“But that is a rookie error and is forgiven.

“We like the fact that he’s pushing in that way and he needs the calibration.”

Wolff told media including PlanetF1.com on Saturday that he decided to promote Antonelli within “five minutes” of Hamilton communicating his decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari in February.

Appearing in Friday’s team principals’ press conference, Wolff admitted that the team are prepared for the teenager to make more mistakes in his debut season in F1 2025, but is convinced that the benefit of promoting Antonelli will outweigh the risk.

He explained: “He’s a rookie, he’s very young, we are prepared to invest into his future and these moments will happen.

“They will continue to happen next year, but there will also be a lot of highlights.

“What we’ve seen [in FP1] is that we’d rather have a problem in slowing him down than making him faster, because what we’ve seen from one-and-a-half laps is just mind[blowing]. Astonishing.”

Wolff went on to argue that Antonelli “needs to cope with the pressure if he wants to be a champion one day” amid concerns that the teenager was too eager to impress in FP1.

He added: “I think a strong driver needs to recover from these things and cope with the pressure.

“Obviously this weekend wasn’t easy for him because he still needs to compete in F2, you have all these shenanigans around you in Monza, Italian kid that’s being hyped for the first time in a Mercedes.

“That must be a heavy burden, but if he wants to be a champion one day he needs to cope with it.

“I have no doubt that he can and he will.”

Mercedes confirmed to PlanetF1.com on Saturday that Peter Bonnington will be Antonelli’s race engineer in F1 2025.

Bonnington has served as Hamilton’s race engineer since 2013 and was recently promoted to the role of head of race engineering at Mercedes.

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