Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has warned George Russell that his new Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli “can be a danger” during the 2025 Formula 1 season.
The bombshell announcement 12 months ago that Lewis Hamilton would be going to Ferrari has seen Antonelli take the spot that he has vacated next to Russell at Mercedes.
Russell sustained a strong campaign last time around as he out-qualified Hamilton 19 times in 24 rounds and outscored the seven-time F1 champion 245 points to 223.
The Briton is expected to take on the team leader mantle at Mercedes as Antonelli, who has accumulated around 9000km of testing in past F1 cars, navigates his debut season.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has moved to dampen the expectation surrounding his latest protege, citing that it would be unrealistic to anticipate immediate exploits.
However, Marko believes that Antonelli, 18, could pose an instant problem to Russell in his rookie campaign, provided that he “uses his skills well” in Mercedes’ W15 challenger.
Marko highlighted Antonelli’s maiden appearance on a race weekend at last term’s Italian Grand Prix where he set the timing screens alight prior to his big shunt.
“We saw it [Antonelli’s talent] at Monza, although I don’t understand why they put him in the car on that circuit,” Marko told Sport.de.
“He was very fast on his first three laps, but on the fourth lap, he went into the barriers.
“I think if he uses his skills well, which he has, he can be a danger to Russell.”
Wolff explained how Antonelli’s promotion revolved around his desire to not lose him to the same circumstances that saw him miss out on Max Verstappen to Red Bull in 2014.
But Marko thinks Mercedes has taken more “risk” with Antonelli than Red Bull did with Verstappen as he will begin his F1 career with a team tipped to be at the sharp end.
He added: “Antonelli is a risk, but we also took that risk with Verstappen in the past.
“Max was very young when he got into that car. But in his case, he wasn’t in a top team [he started with Red Bull’s sister squad] so he had less pressure.”
Rosberg suspects ‘shootout’ at Mercedes
Wolff reignited his interest in Verstappen last season amid rumours that the turbulent situation at Red Bull might trigger the Dutchman to pursue a switch elsewhere.
Despite Verstappen remaining put, Wolff revealed talks had taken place between the two parties as he expressed confidence that its “path will cross” with Verstappen.
With Mercedes poised to make a move should Verstappen hint that he is open to a change, Nico Rosberg has claimed that Russell’s position in the team isn’t secure.
The 2016 F1 champion suspects the upcoming campaign will turn into a “shootout” between Russell and Antonelli in case the German marque acquires Verstappen.
“George Russell is not safe at all because Toto still wants Max and he will try again for 2026 because ‘give up’ does not appear in Toto’s vocabulary,” the German said.
“If Max does become available – and I do think it’s a possibility – then it is a shootout between George and Kimi next year.
“And it’s a lot of pressure on George because he really has everything to lose next year.
“He should be the one ahead internally because Kimi is 18 and he’s completely new and in a full-pressure situation. It’s not an easy situation there for George.”
Mercedes poaching Verstappen at Russell’s expense could lead Red Bull to sign the Briton, with Christian Horner admitting that he “would be foolish” to rule out a swoop.
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