The FIA has reportedly been requested to offer special dispensation to grant a Super Licence to Mercedes Formula 1 Junior Driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli already has the required points (40) to be granted a Super Licence and be eligible to race in F1, thanks to his prowess in junior formula.
However, at the tender age of 17, Antonelli is prohibited from being granted a Super Licence until he turns 18 on August 25.
The age limit was installed by the FIA following Max Verstappen’s F1 debut in 2015 at the age of 17.
Several parties, including the FIA, will have to consider the request to bend the Super Licence rules to grant Antonelli an F1 race seat, but there is little precedent of this occurring.
Red Bull tried to get IndyCar race winner Colton Herta special dispensation to race for its junior team in 2023 but the Andretti driver, although old enough, didn’t have the necessary points and the FIA rejected the request.
Antonelli, who bypassed Formula 3 to make his Formula 2 debut in 2024, has already begun his F1 preparations.
The Italian, a member of Mercedes’ Junior Programme since 2018 has run two separate tests, one at the Red Bull Ring in the 2021 Mercedes W12 and another at Imola in the 2022 ground effect W13 machine.
These preparations come in tandem with a swirling rumour mill that predicts Antonelli is a leading candidate for either a Mercedes or Williams race seat, mere months on from his 2023 double-championship success in the Formula Regional European and Middle East series.
With a request being submitted to grant him a Super Licence ahead of his summertime 18th birthday, it is clear that either Mercedes and/or Williams are keen to get Antonelli into an F1 race seat before the 2024 campaign has run its course.
The natural destination then would be that Antonelli winds up displacing Logan Sargeant at Williams.
However, Team Principal James Vowles was coy on any rumours linking the Grove-based squad with the teenager during Friday’s Miami GP press conference.
“We have far bigger problems to solve than drivers at the moment,” Vowles said.
“Alex [Albon] has done championship-level drives and at the moment he is not scoring points.
“Fundamentally, we have it on us to improve our car going forward. That is my primary concern more than anything else.
“In the sense of Kimi [Antonelli], you have to remember it is just 20 months ago he was in a Formula 4 car. That is a large, large step up into a Formula 1 car in such a short space of time.”
Vowles was also adamant that Sargeant isn’t at threat of being replaced at this stage of the season.
“I haven’t spoken to Kimi since Abu Dhabi last year, hopefully that puts it in context,” the Williams team boss said.
“I know nothing about what’s going on with Mercedes tests right now.
“We are looking, as everyone else is, for where we want to be on driver lineup for next year and we have our own young driver program.
“In the case of Kimi, I can’t really adjudicate at the level he’s at.
“In the case of him coming into the car this year, I’ve always said from the beginning it’s a meritocracy.
“Logan [Sargeant] has to earn his seat and at the moment he has some tough targets where he has to get much closer to Alex, but there was nothing on the radar at the moment for replacing him.”
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