Formula 1: 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli to replace Hamilton as new Mercedes driver

After weeks of rumours, Mercedes has confirmed that teenage star Kimi Antonelli will race for the German car manufacturer starting in 2025.

The young Italian driver from Bologna, who turned 18 on 25 August, will replace Lewis Hamilton, who is switching to Ferrari.

His Formula 1 debut on Friday could have gone better: on the fifth lap of the Monza track during free practice, the driver hit the barriers of the parabolic curve with the right side of his car.

"I pushed a bit too hard," Antonelli commented in a short video, "I apologise to George (Russell) and the team." The head of the Mercedes team, Austrian billionaire Toto Wolff, said the accident does not question the Bolognese driver's potential in Formula 1.

Wolff says he made up his mind about Antonelli straight away: "I decided five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me he was going to Ferrari," the tycoon told journalists present at Monza.

Antonelli will join Mercedes alongside 26-year-old driver George Russell, whom he said he holds in high esteem.

"I am also very excited to become George's teammate. He has come through the team's junior programme just like me and he is someone for whom I have enormous respect. He is super fast, has won several races and has already helped me improve as a driver," commented the young driver.

The team veteran did not hold back in his praise for his new partner either, saying that he was "really excited to collaborate with Kimi for 2025." "His record in Formula Junior was formidable and his promotion is truly deserved," he added.

Antonelli will be the first Italian to compete in F1 since Antonio Giovinazzi in Abu Dhabi with Alfa Sauber in 2021. The last Italian driver to win a Grand Prix was Giancarlo Fischella in Malaysia in 2006.