Just five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told Toto Wolff he would leave for Ferrari at the end of 2024, the Mercedes team boss had decided on the seven-time champion’s replacement.
When Hamilton delivered the news to Wolff in late January, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz were among the many drivers available for 2025, but Wolff saw the team’s future with a teenager just two seasons out of go-karts, who, at that time, had never driven a Formula One car.
The only thing that had the potential to change Wolff’s mind was if Max Verstappen could be coaxed away from Red Bull, but with the reigning champion contracted until 2028 it was always a long shot. Otherwise, Andrea Kimi Antonelli would be accelerated through Mercedes’ junior driver programme and into the cockpit of a Mercedes to partner George Russell in 2025.
“I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me he was going to Ferrari,” Wolff said on Saturday following confirmation of Antonelli’s promotion.
“Obviously we were discussing with other options, and obviously the Max idea couldn’t be discounted completely looking at what happened at Red Bull, but instinctively this is the line-up that I always wanted.”
Antonelli was scouted by Mercedes’ driver development in April 2019 while he was still racing go-karts. In the years that followed, it became clear that he was an exceptional talent, exceeding expectations every time he took a step up the motorsport ladder.
Above all, his exceptional pace was the differentiator. Having turned 18 just a week ago, it’s clear Antonelli still has a lot to learn — his accident during his Friday practice debut at Monza being very public proof — but Mercedes is convinced any short-term pain will be rewarded in the long term.
“I think one of the key ingredients of the really best ones is to hit the ground up and running, and go straight, fast,” Wolff said. “I’ve spoken about the F3 test in Silverstone in the rain with some F2 drivers, where on his first flying lap, he was four seconds quicker than the rest. And that bit him yesterday [in the practice session].
“That’s going to be a valuable lesson, because it’s not about having…
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