Andrea Kimi Antonelli stands as a potential contender for a spot at Mercedes in 2025, potentially stepping into the shoes of Lewis Hamilton. Toto Wolff has articulated the dilemma he confronts in considering the promotion of Andrea Kimi Antonelli to Formula 1 in 2025 at Mercedes.
Wolff finds himself in search of a suitable candidate to fill the void that will be left by Lewis Hamilton at the culmination of the season. Among the frontrunners for the position are Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, and Mercedes’ protege from F2, Antonelli.
The equation altered on Thursday as Alonso committed himself to Aston Martin, eliminating himself from contention. Verstappen, holding the reins at Red Bull, seems improbable to abandon a team dominating the field for Mercedes, which still grapples with ground effects issues.
Sainz presents an option for a longer-term commitment to the team, providing stability. However, this choice might result in the loss of Antonelli, currently showcasing his skills with Prema in F2 and earning the moniker ‘the next Verstappen.’
Wolff has openly acknowledged that Mercedes is undergoing a phase of reconstruction.
This raises the pivotal question of whether he should opt for Antonelli, allowing him to acclimate to F1 while Mercedes navigates through a period of non-competitiveness, or select an experienced driver to partner with George Russell, steering the team back onto the path of success.
“I think you can look at it from various perspectives,” Wolff shared with the media when questioned if the team’s current slump made Antonelli a more attractive prospect.
“We all know that we are in a rebuilding phase, you need to acknowledge that three years into these regulations, we’ve got to do things differently than we’ve done in the past. [That is] without throwing overboard what we believe is goodness in the way we operate.
“[To] rebuild a good team, we could put a young driver in, give him an opportunity with less pressure and fighting for victories immediately, or put a more experienced driver in the car that can help us dig ourselves out of the current performance.
“Everything over these two years that we have seen points to the fact that there should be more much downforce than we believe it is. We’ve measured the downforce, and it is there, but we are not able to extract the lap-time out of it that we should and which simulation shows us [should be there].”
