Recent reports suggest that Mercedes is set to announce Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement in the team. This comes after Toto Wolff’s statement of prioritizing the driver.
Hamilton is set to leave the team for Ferrari in the 2025 F1 season. His replacement has not been finalized by the team yet, but many drivers, including Carlos Sainz, were in contention for the seat. But eyes were set on Andre Kimi Antonelli, their junior driver, currently racing in the Formula 2 series.
While the team has not confirmed officially, information from Bild states that Mercedes has signed Kimi Antonelli for the upcoming F1 season. If it’s true, he would be the youngest driver on the grid. He skipped Formula 3 because of his success in the junior series. Although Mercedes is not performing well enough to win races (one of the reasons analyzed for Lewis Hamilton’s departure), the offer might be attractive to Antonelli.
Mercedes showed signs of improvement in the latest race in Canada after 2024 was dubbed as their worst start to a season in over a decade. George Russell brought home their first podium trophy of the year. Meanwhile, Hamilton trailed him in P4 and mentioned that the W15 showed progress.
Lewis Hamilton reveals W15 is “progressing” despite a “frustrating” Canadian GP
Much of Mercedes’ hopes of bringing in their first victory since Brazil in 2022 relies on mid-season development and upgrades. The race in Canada provided a positive outlook for the team as they finished on the podium for the first time this season.
Lewis Hamilton, reviewing the Grand Prix, said it was one of the “worst” drives for him. He stated that he had speed momentarily, but couldn’t deliver his maximum.
“It wasn’t a positive race for me,” F1 quoted the Brit as saying. “It felt like one of my worst drives that I’ve had. Bits of good speed at some points, but ultimately a pretty poor weekend from myself. Obviously qualified [seventh], put myself back there, then I was stuck behind Fernando for a long, long time, as you would expect. After that, I lost a lot of ground, then lost another bunch of ground, went off and…”
Despite the criticism, Hamilton felt that the car is progressing after their result:
“Anyway, the positive is that the car is progressing, it’s moving forwards. I think if I’d qualified the way I should have, I would have been competing for the win, so that’s why it’s quite frustrating.”
Mercedes currently stands fourth in the Constructor’s Championship standings, trailing McLaren by 88 points. The latter has been the fastest car on some weekends this year and has shown signs of strong development.