Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League is the stage where the young 17-year-old talent, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, is making waves. Many are drawing comparisons between his rise and the prodigious ascent of Max Verstappen. In fact, Antonelli is even considered the frontrunner to replace Lewis Hamilton at the Mercedes Formula 1 team in 2025.
Hailing from Bologna, Antonelli is commonly referred to as Kimi by those around him. However, his full name, Andrea, is reserved for close family and official F2 timing screens. It won’t be long before you start hearing more about him, possibly as early as 2025. Mercedes seems willing to let other top drivers sign with different teams without any resistance, as they patiently evaluate Antonelli’s performance in the F2 season with Prema Racing. This puts him in a prime position to fill Hamilton’s shoes.
Antonelli first caught the attention of the racing world through his achievements in karting. He even won the same CIK-FIA Karting European Championship that Verstappen had won, consecutively in 2020 and 2021. Joining Mercedes as a junior in 2019, Antonelli transitioned to single-seaters in 2021, starting his career with Prema. In 2022, he dominated the Italian F4, winning 13 out of 20 races. The following year, he continued his winning streak in the German F4, triumphing in nine out of 15 races. These successes led him to secure the Formula Regional European title in 2023, paving the way for his move to F2 in 2024.
Unlike his F2 teammate Ollie Bearman, who made a direct jump from F4 to F3, Antonelli took a slightly different path by competing in the Regional championship. This decision means he faces a steeper learning curve this year, adjusting to new tracks and the Pirelli rubber used in F3 but not in Formula Regional. Furthermore, the transition from Regional to F2 entails a significant increase in pace, requiring Antonelli to adapt to more power and downforce.
Nevertheless, Antonelli has had a promising start to the year. Despite Prema’s underperformance in Bahrain, he outperformed Bearman in both races. In Saudi Arabia, he was only slightly over two tenths of a second behind Bearman’s pole time. Overall, Antonelli has achieved four top-10 finishes in six starts at tracks he had never raced on before.
All eyes are now on the upcoming test in Barcelona, as Antonelli prepares for the European leg of the season. This test will allow him to become more familiar with the car and gain an advantage on upcoming tracks, potentially leading to improved performance compared to the early rounds. Additionally, Antonelli will be participating in Formula 1 tests in April, driving a 2021-spec Mercedes. Although these tests were planned before Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes, they have now been expanded.
There have been speculations that Antonelli could follow in the footsteps of George Russell and join Williams in 2025, or possibly even in the latter half of 2024. However, he will have to wait until he turns 18 on August 25 before he can drive on F1 weekends.
If Antonelli seems familiar to you but you can’t quite place where you’ve seen him before, it might be because he appeared in a movie called ‘Veloce come il vento’ (Italian Race in English) when he was just 10 years old. Perhaps that’s where you recognize him from?
Antonelli’s favorite Italian expression is ‘Mamma Mia,’ but only when accompanied by a specific hand gesture. He admits that his worst habit is “playing too much on the sim when I need to study.” Figures!
One of his biggest pet peeves is when someone pushes your seat from behind on an airplane. Good choice, Kimi.
It remains unclear whether Kimi Raikkonen influenced Antonelli’s name. Some reports suggest that Antonelli’s father was a fan of Raikkonen, while others claim that the similarity in names is merely a coincidence.