Antonelli set for Mercedes post-Belgian GP F1 test

Mercedes will get another chance to run the rule over Andrea Kimi Antonelli by handing the 17-year-old a test in the team’s 2022 car following the Formula 1 Belgian GP.

Mercedes is weighing up whether the Italian F2 driver is a suitable replacement for Lewis Hamilton, who is joining Ferrari next season.

The Brackley-based team is short of options after turning its back on Carlos Sainz and not wishing to sign a driver who has been released by Ferrari.

Boss Toto Wolff is keen to promote Antonelli, who has had test runs at the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Imola in recent months.

Antonelli, who won at Silverstone and the Hungaroring in F2, will get another opportunity to impress at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit following this weekend’s GP, running the W13 as part of the Testing of Previous Car (TPC) programme.

Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: “It’s difficult to find opportunities to run a TPC programme because the F1 race calendar is so busy. We haven’t got a whole separate team of people that can do that.

“That’s one of the realities of the cost cap is that you haven’t got the test team that you used to have in years gone by and Kimi is pretty busy with his F2 calendar, which, when you’re in Europe, is quite a focus.

“We’ve got more events planned. We’re doing a day with him here in Spa after the weekend. And then we’ve got other events further into the year, but it’s all going well, and the programmes now will drift towards teaching him how you need to refine the approach to qualifying, how you refine the approach to long runs and just trying to get all of that work so he can have a clearer idea of what it is he needs to work on and improve.

“But, it’s all going well. And plenty more events are planned.”