Kimi Antonelli is officially Lewis Hamilton’s replacement.
Mercedes announced Saturday that the 18-year-old Italian would take the seven-time champion’s spot next season when Hamilton moves to Ferrari. Antonelli has widely been expected to take over for Hamilton alongside George Russell, especially after Carlos Sainz signed with Williams and the rumors that Max Verstappen could be looking to leave Red Bull went nowhere.
“We are excited about what George and Kimi bring to the team both as individual drivers, but as a partnership,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said in a statement.
“Our new lineup is perfect to open the next chapter in our story. It is also a testament to the strength of our junior program and our belief in home-grown talent.”
“George has proved that he is one of the very best drivers in the world. He is not only fast, consistent, and determined, but has also developed into a strong leader within the team.”
“Kimi has consistently shown the talent and speed needed to compete at the very top of our sport. We know it will be another big step up, but he has impressed us in his F1 testing this year and we will be supporting him every step of the way in the learning process.”
Antonelli’s announcement comes a day after he made his practice debut for Mercedes … and crashed Russell’s car. Antonelli participated in FP1 on Friday in Russell’s car and slid off the track and into the wall.
Antonelli joined Mercedes in 2019 and is currently in his first season in Formula 2. He’s won twice so far in the second-tier series.
With Antonelli teaming with Russell, eight of the 10 teams on the grid have now finalized their driver lineups for next season. The only two teams that need to figure out their driver partnerships are the Red Bull teams. We know Verstappen will be back at Red Bull, but it’s not clear who will be his teammate. The team recently decided to keep Sergio Perez for the rest of the 2024 season.
If Perez doesn’t return, Red Bull could elevate someone from its No. 2 team. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda currently drive for VCARB and Ricciardo could make the move back to the main Red Bull team to drive with Verstappen once again.