The much-talked-about Mercedes Junior Driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli responded to the pressure of his expected Formula 1 future after picking up his maiden Formula 2 win on Saturday at Silverstone.
Anotnelli’s arrival on the Formula 2 scene was met with high expectations given he graduated to the series at the tender age of 17, bypassing Formula 3 after a title-winning 2023 campaign in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA).
That expectation skyrocketed when Lewis Hamilton announced he’d be leaving Mercedes at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season and it quickly became apparent Antonelli was among the leading candidates to replace him before he’d even race a Formula 2 car in anger.
Still, a multitude of factors ranging from inexperience and an underperforming PREMA team meant Antonelli’s first real chance to take a race win in Formula 2 came in Saturday’s Silverstone Sprint, but the Italian took it in classy fashion.
Sitting on reverse grid pole, the 17-year-old led comfortably and in a race that was marred by multiple Safety Car incidents and intermittent rain, Antonelli failed to relent, leading from lights to flag with a comfortable margin to the rest of the field.
If there was any pressure on the Italian he didn’t show it in the Sprint nor in the press conference that followed when unsurprisingly the media levied several questions in his direction.
Toto Wolff remarked on Friday that “What I like in terms of [Kimi’s] attitude, generally his family, who has been always close to him, is the objective assessment of a situation, and that is good or not good enough.
“I don’t think that the pressure harms at all the way he performs in the car and how he drives.
“It was a rapid career progression. He’s 17. Hasn’t got even a driving license for a road car. And the best ones will be able to cope with that, with the amount of scrutiny and the pressure, and it’s going to get bigger.”
Antonelli’s assessment of his rookie F2 campaign thus far was that he doesn’t always “cope very well with pressure.”
The 17-year-old told media including Motorsport Week “Obviously, this season, especially this year, there has been under a lot of pressure, but yeah, I have to say [Saturday] I coped with it pretty well.
“I think today was really the showcase and actually yeah it’s a big relief for me because it really takes away a lot of weight from my shoulders.”
Antonelli has already undergone private testing in Mercedes’ 2021 and 2022 Formula 1 machines and the Italian said that “it’s the job of the to try and adapt as best as possible from one car to the other.”
That answer, like his overall handling of the Sprint race and post-race media, was considered and mature, solidifying the notion Antonelli has that vital ingredient amid the makeup of an F1-ready driver.
With all this happening at the tender age of 17, it could be easy to get lost amid the hype, but Antonelli credits his support network with keeping him grounded.
“This year you know it’s been quite tough to manage especially because it all came at once,” he said.
“But luckily I have to say I have good people around me. I have my family, Mercedes and also my team and they’ve been trying to just protect me especially because you know it’s really easy to crack under pressure, especially in this situation.
“I have to say they’re really helping me to try to cope with that as best as possible and I’m really thankful for that because it’s been quite difficult, but thanks to them I’m able to cope with it pretty well.”
