SUMMARY
- Kimi Antonelli is the son of a racer.
- Kimi joined the Mercedes family in 2019.
There is no doubt that Kimi Antonelli is one of the most promising drivers to enter racing in the last few years. At just 17 years old, Antonelli will be racing in Formula 2 as he hopes to enter F1 for the 2025 season.
Antonelli joined the Mercedes Racing Academy in 2019. Since then, he has been showcasing some incredible talent out on track. But let’s take a look at who Kimi Antonelli is and why he is considered to be the Wonderkid.
Who is Kimi Antonelli’s father?
Kimi Antonelli is the son of an Italian racer, Marco Antonelli, an Italian racer. He last drove in the international GT Open in 2022. Although he was not able to make it to the big leagues, his connections to motorsport did help him kick-start his son’s career.
⚠️ | Mercedes junior driver Kimi Antonelli tested F3 cars with other F2 drivers (as F2 testing is restricted).
In the rain Antonelli was fastest by whole seconds.#F1 pic.twitter.com/jVv2dYVwGv
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) February 4, 2024
Marco started his racing career in 1992. He raced in Italian and European GT and Superturismo series until 1996. After 1996, Marco was not able to find a seat to race for a while However, he did make short stints with a few teams in GT racing. In 2011, he raced under his own team, Antonelli Motorsport. However, they were not successful.
Where is Kimi Antonelli from?
Kimi Antonelli was born in Bologna Italy. After showing interest in racing early on, his father helped him start his career in karting. Since his father was also a racer, he was able to guide Kimi in the right ways.
He raced in various karting local competitions in Italy before moving on to professional ones in 2015. At this time, Antonelli was only 9 years old. Between 2015 and 2021, Kimi managed to win 13 tournaments. Following his success in Karting, he went on to face bigger challenges.
When did Kimi Antonelli join Mercedes Junior Academy?
Kimi’s success in karting turned a number of heads. There was no doubt that he had the potential to be an F1 driver and maybe even an F1 Champion. Toto Wolff recognized this and was able to capitalize on it. Antonelli became a Mercedes Junior driver in 2019.
Kimi and Marco Antonelli with Toto and Jack Wolff today. 🥰 pic.twitter.com/wn3tBXUzMo
— Kimi Antonelli News 🇮🇹 (@AndreaKimiNews) November 12, 2023
As a Mercedes driver, he went on to win the Italian Formula 4 and ADAC Formula 4 Championships in his rookie year. He also won the FIA Formula 4 Games which was held in Paul Ricard Cirucuit in 2022. The next year he went on to win Formula Regional Middle East and European Championships.
All this success in the past few years has brought him to the FIA Formula 2 Championship for 2024. He will be racing with Prema as a Mercedes driver. There is no doubt that he will make more heads turn during the season.
Can Kimi Antonelli make it to F1 in 2025?
There is no doubt that Antonelli will be the wild card going into the Formula 2 season. If he is able to win the Championship in his rookie season, there is no doubt that he will be one of the candidates to race in F1 in 2025.
For the 2025 F1 season, there are a number of empty seats that Kimi could fill. Being a Mercedes driver, his obvious options would be with Williams. We saw George Russell make his F1 debut with Williams as a Mercedes Academy driver and eventually make his way to the senior team. The priority for Mercedes will be to have Antonelli on the team eventually.
Toto Wolff believes that the departure of Lewis Hamilton gives Mercedes a chance to be “bold” with its 2025 #F1 driver line-up 👀
Could we see team protégé Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the seat alongside George Russell? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/D2OB0Zd7kx
— Autosport (@autosport) February 5, 2024
However, Given that Mercedes themselves have an open spot for the 2025 season, there is a good chance that they will choose to give Kimi the seat. In the long term, Toto will want Kimi and Russell in both the Mercedes cars. If Mercedes chooses to sign another driver, it could delay things for Kimi and he could go to one of the rival teams.
It will be interesting to see how Mercedes chooses their driver lineup for the 2025 season. Kimi’s fate will depend on how he performs in F2 in his rookie season. A lot of current F1 drivers won their F2 Championship during their rookie season. Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, and Lewis Hamilton are just a few of them.
Do you think Kimi Antonelli will go on to win the F2 Championship in 2024? Post your answers in the comments section below.