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Antonelli prepared for F1's challenges: "Learned a good lesson"
If Andrea Kimi Antonelli's F1 debut with Mercedes in 2025 depended solely on his F2 results last year, he may not be joining the grid next season at all. However, it was not due to his performance that his F2 record was less than awe inspiring. His team, Prema Racing, often a title contender, had a hard time finding the right configuration for its F2 car, leading to a difficult season which inadvertently taught Antonelli valuable lessons ahead of his F1 debut.
In the end, Antonelli's season was not as poor as his results showed. With the odd win here and there, he certainly achieved a lot more than his teammate, Ferrari junior driver, Oliver Bearman, dubbed by many as a promising talent, who undoubtedly showed his mettle when he had to make his F1 debut last season, stepping in for Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen at Ferrari and Haas, respectively.
Regardless, it was a tough season for the young Italian: "I think last season was, was a really, really good lesson because it's when the struggle comes that you become stronger and you actually learn how to overcome the struggle," said Antonelli, showing remarkable mental fortitude, in conversation with GPBlog and other media present at F1 75 Live's media session.
Antonelli prepared for F1 because of F2 struggles
"I even tried to get out of it (the tough spot, ed.) and to improve the situation. So I think it was a really good learning that season and definitely this year it’s another big step. Probably there's going to be some struggle to face and I think I feel more prepared, too, in the case of having to face them. But no, definitely last year was a really, really good lesson and definitely a really good lesson I adopted here," concluded Antonelli.
His words caused an impression on Mercedes teammate, George Russell: "Man. Are you sure you're not older than 18? Spoke so well, this guy."
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