Lewis Hamilton holds no concerns over handing his Mercedes car over to Andrea Kimi Antonelli for opening practice of the Mexico City Grand Prix, despite the Italian crashing just two laps into his first Formula 1 outing.
Kimi Antonelli, just days after his 18th birthday had his first laps in the Mercedes W15 during opening practice of the Italian GP.
After setting the timing screens alight in his first lap, the Italian teenager crashed at Ascari on his second tour, forcing Mercedes’ mechanics to complete hefty repairs to Hamilton’s car.
Despite this, Hamilton holds no qualms over Antonelli getting a second bite of the Mercedes W15 cherry on Friday.
“I don’t really personally [hold concerns],” Hamilton told select media including Motorsport Week on Thursday.
“Again, going into Monza, we didn’t approach it in that way, I think Kimi is young and he’s learnt from his first outing in Monza.
“We did our briefing together today, because obviously he’s working with Bono next year and obviously tomorrow, and I’m here to support in any way I can.
“I think what’s key is, and as I spoke to him, he doesn’t have to set the world alight on the first lap, just build into it and enjoy it.
“I told him the track is really dirty early on, and whatever we’re faced with, we’ll handle it, but I don’t think he’ll have a problem today.”
Lando Norris ‘happy’ for home hero Pato O’Ward
Antonelli is one of several F1 rookies taking part in FP1 on Friday.
Ollie Bearman is taking part for Ferrari, Felipe Drugovich for Aston Martin and Robert Schwartzman is participating for Sauber.
In addition, home hero and IndyCar star Pato O’Ward will step into Lando Norris’ McLaren during FP1.
Like Hamilton, Norris is fully behind his team-mate and hopes to see him perform well in front of his home crowd.
“It’s not just about him, he’s playing a bigger role, he’s not going to be in Formula 1 this year or next year, his role is helping us as a team, that’s his job, and he gets a cool experience of coming and performing in his home crowd,” Norris said.
“We could have picked another track for him to go and do, so I think he should be happy that we picked Mexico, I’m happy for him to go and do that.
“I think it’s a very special thing for him to do, he’ll definitely get laps to be able to push, but he also knows the risks and the rewards of doing so, and yeah, he will have fun and enjoy himself out there.”
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