Mercedes Junior Driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the newest addition to the 2025 Formula One grid. He’ll be joining Mercedes as a rookie, the only driver to do so since the team rejoined F1 in 2010. The seat alongside George Russell opened up after Lewis Hamilton signed with Ferrari, providing 17-year-old Antonelli the opportunity to make the step up from Formula 2 earlier than expected. 

Kimi Antonelli at his debut F1 test (Photo via Formula1.com)

Born in 2006, Italian driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli began his racing career at seven years old. The son of a racing driver, Kimi started karting in 2013. He spent the next few years competing in multiple karting championships. In 2019, he joined the Mercedes Junior Academy, and in 2020, his final year of karting, he won two championships. 

Antonelli made the switch to single seaters in 2021 when he took part in select events of the Italian Formula 4 and Formula 4 UAE Championships. He won two races and secured eight podiums during that short time. In 2022, Kimi won the Italian Formula 4 and the Formula UAE Championships with PREMA Racing. He was promoted to Formula Regional in 2023 with PREMA Racing, where he secured the title in the European and Middle East Formula Regional Championships.

Antonelli on track for PREMA Racing (Photo via PREMA Racing)

This year Kimi Antonelli is in his rookie season of Formula 2 with PREMA Racing. He made the jump up from Formula Regional, skipping Formula 3. After ten race weekends, Kimi is currently 7th in the F2 Driver’s Standings with two wins. He is beating his teammate, future Haas Formula 1 driver Oliver Bearman, who is in 15th. 

The 17-year-old has been in the discussion at Mercedes since the start of the year. He has done a few tests in Formula 1 machinery with them this season, and Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has shown his support for the young driver, even when Kimi was unsure if he was ready. After his first feature F2 win in Hungary, Antonelli stated, “I don’t know if I would be ready, to be honest, because I still am learning a lot in F2.” Despite his doubts, Mercedes has made the decision to replace the seat Lewis Hamilton vacated with the Italian rookie.

Antonelli’s first F2 feature race win in Hungary (Photo via Formula1.com)

The 2025 Formula One season will start in March at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia, where Andrea Kimi Antonelli and his PREMA Racing teammate Ollie Bearman will both start their first seasons in Formula 1.