Andrea Kimi Antonelli has revealed how an improvement to his race pace in a Formula 1 test in Belgium was crucial to him landing a race seat with Mercedes in 2025.
Antonelli was billed as a contender to be a Mercedes driver the moment it was announced earlier this year that Lewis Hamilton would be going to Ferrari next season.
The Italian has been combining his debut campaign in Formula 2 – where he lies sixth with two wins – with an extensive testing programme in previous Mercedes cars.
But although his pace was evident as soon as he got behind the wheel of an F1 car, Antonelli has admitted that he struggled to maintain that across longer distances.
However, an outing in the team’s 2022 challenger, the W13, at Spa-Francorchamps prior to the summer break saw Antonelli make the strides Mercedes wanted to see.
Speaking at Il Festival dello Sport, Antonelli has documented how integral that test transpired to be in Mercedes’ eventual decision to give him the permanent F1 seat.
“During the TPC [testing of previous cars] tests, one thing that impressed them was how quickly I got to the limit and how quickly I got to the target lap times that Mercedes wanted,” he said.
“But I have to say that the factor on which I struggled the most during testing was the race pace.
“However, in the last two days of testing at Spa, I improved the race pace considerably, and that pushed Mercedes to sign me.
“Until that moment, they had an idea that they wanted to put me in the Mercedes car in 2025, but first they wanted to see if I could improve those weaknesses I had.
“During the Spa tests, I made a good step forward and that convinced Mercedes.
“In fact, before the summer break, I had a call with [Toto] Wolff, my engineer and other people from Mercedes.
“It was there they told me that I would be one of their drivers in 2025. It was a good moment.”
Antonelli targeting wins in maiden F1 season
Antonelli crashing on his second timed run on his F1 weekend debut in the opening practice hour at Monza led to questions over whether his promotion is premature.
However, Antonelli retains no concerns about his impending step up and he has even set his sights on emulating his predecessor with victories in his maiden season.
“I feel ready for F1,” he expressed. “In terms of speed, I think it won’t be a problem.
“The only thing where there will be a lot of work to do is about how to manage the weekend in the best possible way and also to learn all the procedures.
“So, there will be a lot of things to learn.
“Definitely winning some races [next year] would be a dream. It won’t be easy, because all the teams will have a competitive car, so it will be very difficult, but this is the target.
“Some podiums would also be good, but the main goal is to bring home some wins.”
READ MORE: Mercedes admits Kimi Antonelli’s Monza F1 debut was unwise
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