Kimi Antonelli is officially Lewis Hamilton’s replacement.
Mercedes announced on Saturday that the 18-year-old Italian will take the seven-time champion’s seat next season when Hamilton moves to Ferrari. Antonelli had been expected to replace Hamilton alongside George Russell, especially after Carlos Sainz signed with Williams and rumours that Max Verstappen might be thinking of leaving Red Bull went nowhere.
“We are excited by what George and Kimi bring to the team, both as individual drivers and as a partnership,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said in a statement.
“Our new line-up is perfect for opening the next chapter of our history. It is also a testament to the strength of our youth program and our belief in local talent.”
“George has proven himself to be one of the best drivers in the world. Not only is he fast, consistent and determined, but he has also become a strong leader within the team.”
“Kimi has consistently demonstrated the talent and speed required to compete at the very top of our sport. We know it will be another big step forward, but he has impressed us in his F1 testing this year and we will support him every step of the way through the learning process.”
Antonelli’s announcement comes a day after he made his free practice debut for Mercedes – and crashed into Russell’s car. Antonelli took part in Friday’s free practice 1 in Russell’s car and went off the track and crashed into the wall.
Antonelli joined Mercedes in 2019 and is currently in his first season in Formula 2. He has won twice so far in the second-tier series.
With Antonelli teaming up with Russell, eight of the ten teams on the grid have already decided their driver line-ups for next season. The only two teams that need to finalise their driver partnerships are the Red Bull teams. We know that Verstappen will return to Red Bull, but it is not clear who his teammate will be. The team recently decided to keep Sergio Perez for the remainder of the 2024 season.
If Perez doesn’t return, Red Bull could promote someone from its No. 2 team. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda currently drive for VCARB and Ricciardo could return to the main Red Bull team to drive with Verstappen once again.
