Mercedes have gold in their hands: future challenger to Verstappen?

At the moment, Max Verstappen has no real challenger in Formula 1. At 17, it might be a bit early to put someone forward as a future challenger, but Andrea Kimi Antonelli shows he is a future candidate for the F1 world title. Who is the big young talent from Mercedes' training programme?

In recent months, his name has come up several times in the Formula 1 paddock: Antonelli. An excellent name for an F1 driver, of course, and the fact that he is Italian also helps. The last Italian F1 driver was Antonio Giovinazzi in 2021. For the previous Italian F1 victory, we must go back to 2006, when Giancarlo Fisichella won the Malaysian Grand Prix.

In the entire history of F1, only three world championships were won by an Italian driver. The country so fond of the sport through Ferrari could rarely cheer for a local hero. Alberto Ascari won two world titles in 1952 and 1953, and Giuseppe Farina won the very first world title in 1950. Since then, an Italian has never won the World Championship.

The young Antonelli has huge pressure on his shoulders, but in a conversation with GPblog he already indicated at the start of 2023 that his goal is clear. He wants to be the next Italian in F1. "I am aware that there are a lot of people who have a lot of good expectations of me, but I try not to think about it too much. I try to think mainly about doing what I have to do to get the best possible result. It would be nice to be the next Italian in F1."

It is not surprising that Antonelli's name is already going around the F1 paddock. After all, the Italian wins almost everything he competes in. That started at a young age in karting. Those who take a look at his results think it must be a joke. The Italian records the fastest time almost everywhere and is unbeatable in the race. He won the World Championship, Masters and the European karting championship. He even won the most prestigious European karting championship two years in a row.

He has a good mentor with his father, Marco. Marco Antonelli is an Italian racing driver who mainly drives his races in sports cars. In 2022, for instance, he won another race in the International GT Open-AM, where he competed for the AKM Motorsport team. Andrea Kimi has thus had racing instilled in him from an early age.

Still, it remains to be seen how young talents adapt to formula cars, but Antonelli seems to have no trouble with that. In his first full season in the prestigious Italian F4 championship, Antonelli won by a landslide. The Italian won 13 out of 20 races and stood on the podium 15 times. That year (2022), he also won the ADAC Formula 4 championship and the FIA Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup.

Speaking to GPblog in early 2023, Antonelli is already on more people's radar. The Italian's results stand out, so the spotlight is on him. A protégé of Mercedes, he will be guided in his path towards F1. It is up to him to prove he is ready for the next step.

Antonelli will do that with verve in 2023. Antonelli raced in Formula Regional in the Middle East and Europe championships. He has both championships to his name, with eight wins in total.

Antonelli performed so well that Mercedes' typically conservative training programme decided to skip a step in 2024. No Formula 3 for Antonelli, but straight into Formula 2 with Prema. It says a lot about Antonelli that Mercedes opted for this. With Pascal Wehrlein, Esteban Ocon and even the highly regarded George Russell, the steps were completed one by one.

For the driver born in Bologna, 2024 will be the year of truth. He will step into a top team at Prema, but most importantly, alongside the highly regarded Oliver Bearman. Bearman made a big impression training for Haas and seems to be on his way to an F1 seat in 2025. If Antonelli can keep up or even beat Bearman in his first year in F2, then the road to F1 is open.

Of course, even in Formula 2, Antonelli must show again that he can take the next step. He is certainly not yet at the level of Max Verstappen, but he is the talent to keep an eye on in 2024. This could just be F1's next star, this time in the hands of Mercedes.