Will Antonelli replicate Hamilton's debut season? 'That's my goal'

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has set the bar high for himself. The Italian will make his Formula 1 debut in 2025 when he will race for Mercedes alongside George Russell. However, the 18-year-old is not settling for simply starting races and doing well. He expects race wins.

Antonelli will be replacing Lewis Hamilton. In 2007, Hamilton made his debut for McLaren and was able to compete for race wins and podiums straight away. In fact, Hamilton finished on the podium in his first nine races (including two wins) during his debut season. Antonelli hopes to do something similar when he joins the front-running Mercedes.

Antonelli aims to win during debut season in F1

At the Festival dello Sport, organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Antonelli said he feels he is ready for Formula 1: "In terms of speed, I believe that won’t be an issue. The only thing that will require a lot of work is understanding how to manage the race weekend in the best way possible and learning all the procedures. So, there will be a lot to learn, but I feel ready."

Antonelli also has a goal for his first season: "Certainly, winning a few races would be a dream. It won’t be easy because all the teams have competitive cars, so it will be very difficult, but this is my first goal. Even a few podiums would be good, but the main goal is to bring home some victories."

This article has been created in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut

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