Last week the FIA opened the door for Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli to make his Formula 1 debut before his 18th birthday.
Mercedes may not have been behind the request to review the licence rules and Antonelli is not about to immediately start racing a W15. But he is under consideration for a place at the team next year as it needs a replacement for Lewis Hamilton.
Team principal Toto Wolff has been at pains to downplay the team’s expectations of a driver which has been part of its junior programme for years. Keeping a lid on expectations has proved difficult, however as everything is aligning for Antonelli to make a remarkably rapid ascent into a top seat.
Last week’s development showed time is of the essence. The FIA’s new rule allows it to grant a dispensation for 17-year-olds to obtain a super licence to compete in F1 if it believes they are up to scratch. But there are only six grands prix until Antonelli turns 18 anyway – the festivities coincide with the Zandvoort round – when no dispensation would have been required. The same reasoning applies to the other rule changed last week, dropping the requirement for super licence holders to have a road car licence, which Antonelli could not obtain in Italy until he reaches 18.
The obvious inference to draw is that Antonelli will be on the starting grid for a Formula 1 race between now and his next birthday. That would make him only the second 17-year-old to race in the series since Max Verstappen, whose debut nine years ago prompted the creation of the very rule the FIA has now devised a means of circumventing.
Due to the timing of the change in the rules, it’s unlikely Antonelli could make his debut this weekend. However it would be no surprise to see him appear in the opening practice session, as his Prema Formula 2 team mate Oliver Bearman will for Haas.
The same two rules changes for race licences have also been made for the ‘free practice-only super licence’ which Antonelli requires to do this. He already fulfils the requirement of collecting 25 super licence points.
The route for Antonelli to make his debut in F1 for Mercedes next year therefore appears clear, if Wolff chooses it: He can spend the remaining two-thirds of the current season serving an apprenticeship in a seat at a customer team, widely expected to be the one Logan Sargeant currently occupies at Williams, where he would also be reunited…
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