Andrea Kimi Antonelli, from Italy, who races for Prema Racing, recently took part in a Formula 1 testing session at Silverstone. However, Mercedes denied that this outing was a “showdown” to determine their 2025 driver lineup. Antonelli, who is competing in his first season in Formula 2, has been participating in various tests with Mercedes cars in preparation for his future in the top category of motorsport. He had the opportunity to test the 2021 Mercedes car at the Red Bull Ring and also tried out the latest ground effect car, the W13, at Imola last month. Earlier this month, Antonelli continued his testing program at the British Grand Prix venue, alongside full-time driver George Russell and reserve driver Mick Schumacher. Reports in the Italian media suggested that 17-year-old Antonelli matched Russell’s lap times on low fuel conditions and outperformed him in longer races. However, Mercedes clarified that the three drivers were carrying out different testing programs and the goal was not to compare Antonelli to Russell. Mercedes will conduct their next Test Previous Car (TPC) test in Barcelona next week, with Mick and Kimi driving the W13 (2022 car). The team emphasized that the recent test at Silverstone was not a “showdown” and each driver had different programs, on different days and in different track and weather conditions. They expressed satisfaction with Mick and Kimi’s performance and are looking forward to the upcoming testing sessions.
Antonelli is widely seen as the top choice to be Russell’s partner at the German team in 2025, unless team boss Toto Wolff manages to lure Verstappen away from Red Bull.
Russell, che ha costantemente affermato di essere pronto a competere contro qualsiasi pilota scelto, ha dato il suo benestare ad Antonelli per garantirsi il posto.
“È un pilota eccezionale e senza dubbio ha un futuro in Formula 1”, ha commentato Russell a Imola.
“[Antonelli] rappresenta un’ottima opportunità per la Mercedes, mentre guardano al futuro.”
Nel frattempo, Lewis Hamilton, che lascerà la Mercedes alla fine di questa stagione per cercare una nuova avventura con la Ferrari, ha appoggiato Antonelli come suo possibile successore.
“Onestamente, non ho conoscenza dei piani di Toto, ma se dipendesse da me scegliere un pilota giovane… probabilmente sceglierei Kimi”, ha affermato Hamilton.
Antonelli potrebbe avere la possibilità di fare il suo debutto in Formula 1 prima della prossima stagione, se la richiesta della Williams di rinunciare al requisito di età minima della FIA avrà successo.
Tuttavia, il rappresentante della Prema in F2 compirà 18 anni il 25 agosto e sarebbe idoneo a sostituire Logan Sargeant, che sta avendo un rendimento al di sotto delle aspettative, al Gran Premio dei Paesi Bassi.
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