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Bottas sees risk in Mercedes signing Antonelli: 'You go for it'
According to former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will have to deal with pressure quickly at the German team. Even as Bottas believes Toto Wolff is there to help and prepare the Italian youngster, but there will be many new aspects he has to adapt to quickly, as he is about to replace the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton.
"I think they've already showed lots of support for him. I think he's had good preparation and will have good preparation for his first season," Bottas began to Sky Sports about Antonelli's upcoming rookie season in the competition.
The Italian jumped from F4 to Formula 2 this season already, and after a year in the competition a step below F1, he will be given an opportunity at Mercedes. In F2, the Italian has won the feature race at the Hungaroring and the sprint race at Silverstone. "Obviously, he's very young. He doesn't yet have much experience from single-seaters. That's a fact. So it's not going to be easy. There's going to be lots of new things he needs to adapt to and learn. The amount of people he will be working with, the amount of information he will be getting this year, and especially when he starts racing next year, initially it's a bit of a shock," Bottas continued.
The Stake F1 driver also believes that Antonelli is at the right team to get prepared for his debut year. "Like I said, I'm sure they will prepare him as well as possible. Nowadays with the simulator, I think he's done quite a bit of testing with the older cars as well."
Pressure is on right away
As a Mercedes driver himself, Bottas has experience with driving for the team when they were the frontrunners. With big aspirations and the car that was capable to earn wins in 2024, pressure will be on the 18-year-old. "As a driver, you always take that kind of opportunity. If I was Kimi, no doubt, of course, you go for it. There's always an element of risk. In this case, both for Kimi, because he will need to deliver. It's a big team and that's what they're expecting. But same thing for Mercedes. If they have a race-winning car, they want to get the points with both cars."
Even as pressure is on the youngster, Bottas at least understands that team principal Toto Wolff's support could help Antonelli. "He [Toto] has shown lots of support for Kimi. And I'm sure he will continue to do so, but knowing him, he will expect great things. That's natural."
Co-Author: Corwin Kunst
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16 September 2024
