Kimi Antonelli revealed that he found out from Toto Wolff that he could drive for Mercedes in Formula 1 even before the announcement of Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari was made in February 2024.
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The Italian was chosen by the German team to take on the difficult mission of replacing the seven-time world champion from 2025. Speaking to SAP, the 2026 championship leader recalled when the Austrian executive called him in to talk to tell him that they were considering him to move up to F1 in the 2025 season.
“We are in 2024. It’s the year I turn 18. And it’s February. I was in Silverstone, 10 minutes from here, doing tests with an F3 car to get to know the track, since I was going to race there for F2. I remember that, at the end of the day, Toto called me to his office; I was already a bit confused there, because, you know, that’s not something that usually happens,” he said.
“I entered the room and, of course, there were Toto and Rosa, she is the one who helps me on race weekends. Toto didn’t waste time and went straight to the point. This happened even before Lewis’s move to Ferrari was announced. He said: ‘Look, Lewis is going to Ferrari, and we were thinking of putting you in the car for next year’,” he said.
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Antonelli admitted he was shaken by the conversation, as he had not yet debuted in Formula 2 and felt he had a lot to prove. “I was like: ‘Wow’. My eyes widened and I asked: ‘Are you kidding?’. Because I hadn’t even started in F2. I still had a lot to prove, a lot to show to earn that spot. And, you know, Toto was already talking about it.”
“I was thinking: ‘Ok’. He asked: ‘Well, if the opportunity arises, will you be ready?’. And I answered: ‘Yes, I mean, I have to be ready’. But, of course, the team also helped me by making me do tests with an F1 car. Then, the official announcement came right at the start of the summer holidays,” he concluded.
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