Kimi Antonelli wants to be competitive immediately in 2025, setting ambitious targets for his rookie campaign. Mercedes have shown huge faith in Antonelli’s abilities, and the Italian is eager to tick of several milestones for the Silver Arrows next season.
Wins already a target for Kimi Antonelli ahead of rookie year
The last few eighteen months have seen a resurgence in competitive rookie drivers. Oscar Piastri quickly made an impact at McLaren last year, claiming a Sprint race victory and several podiums.
Franco Colapinto is the latest youngster to make headlines, delivering results in spectacular fashion for Williams – securing points and keeping Alex Albon on his toes despite very limited track time.
Despite this, none of these drivers entered Formula 1 with anything close to the scrutiny that Kimi Antonelli will receive. The 18-year-old is one of the most highly anticipated drivers to join the grid in living memory – largely thanks to the very public vote of confidence given by Mercedes.
Inevitably, replacing Lewis Hamilton adds another layer of importance to Antonelli’s F1 debut.
Antonelli unconcerned about integrating himself to F1
Looking ahead to next season, the Mercedes junior driver makes clear that he wants to be competitive from day one:
“I feel ready for F1. In terms of speed, I don’t think it will be a problem,” he said at Gazzetta dello Sport’s event in Trento.
“The only thing where there will be a lot of work to do will be understanding how to manage the weekend in the best possible way, and also learning all the procedures.
“So, there will be a lot of things to learn but I feel ready.
“Winning some races would definitely be a dream. It won’t be easy, because all the teams have a competitive car.
“So it will be very difficult, but this is my first goal.
“Even some podiums would be good, but the main goal is to bring home some victories.”
At the beginning of the year, one argument in favour Antonelli’s promotion was that Mercedes would not be fighting at the very front – meaning he could make his debut in relatively forgiving circumstances.
However, the Brackley team’s impressive mid-season development has changed this. Assuming even a reasonable winter of development, Mercedes should be at the very sharp end of the grid in 2025.
This means that Kimi Antonelli, aside from having the very fast George Russell as a teammate, must rise to the challenge of fighting with the very best in F1.
