Verstappen won't go to Mercedes, but Antonelli not yet certain
Exclusive
- Corwin Kunst
Now that Mercedes has confirmed that Max Verstappen will not be coming to Brackley in 2025, the team do not immediately want to say that Andrea Kimi Antonelli is now a certainty for 2025. The German team are still looking for a teammate for George Russell, but the team deny that the final choice for that has already made regarding Antonelli's future.
Antonelli is seen as a major talent in Mercedes' junior programme. The Italian - still only 17 years old - impressed in Formula 4 last year and therefore skipped Formula 3. This year, he is racing in Formula 2 with Prema and is now on two wins. At Silverstone and the Hungaroring, he was the strongest.
Are there other options?
Mercedes seem to have few other options left that could take place next year alongside Russell. The lion's share of drivers somewhere already have contracts for 2025 and so Antonelli seems the most logical option. At the same time, there are setbacks to this. If he is easily defeated next year by the now quite experienced Russell, it could also be a mental blow.
However, the super-talent did impress in recent months during tests he completed in Mercedes' older F1 cars. Wolff and James Allison have repeatedly praised Antonelli's adaptability and his ability to set consistent lap times and stay faultless.
F2 title out of reach
After ten F2 weekends, Antonelli is seventh in the F2 championship with 87 points. This puts him out of contention for the title. Indeed, Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar leads the standings with 165 points. There are still four sprint races and four main races to go (Monza, Baku, Qatar and Abu Dhabi).
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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