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George Russell has revealed that he played a role in Kimi Antonelli succeeding Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2025.
Hamilton informed Mercedes in the post-2023 winter break that he would be joining Ferrari, exercising a break clause in his contract.
He was committed for 2024, so Mercedes had more time than usual to consider their options, but the loss of their greatest-ever driver was still a seismic curveball.
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George Russell thought Kimi Antonelli was the ‘perfect’ Lewis Hamilton successor
In an interview with Sky Sports F1 during the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend, Russell revealed that Toto Wolff presented him with a ‘shortlist’ of options to replace Hamilton.
Like Wolff, Russell says he viewed academy driver Antonelli, who was competing in Formula 2 during the 2024 season, as the ‘perfect’ choice.
“Toto was very open with me in the coming months and was asking my opinion a lot on who he felt my teammate should be,” Russell reflected. “He gave me a shortlist of drivers.
“At the time, it was like ‘Kimi will be the best fit’. Kimi felt like the perfect choice.”
If you were George Russell, which driver would you have recommended as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement?
Russell dispatched Antonelli handily in their first year as teammates, outscoring him 319-150 in the drivers’ standings.
However, the 19-year-old has taken a phenomenal leap in his second season, recently winning five races on the bounce before his retirement at the Barcelona GP.
Russell, who still trails his teammate by 50 points, insists he saw it coming.
“I knew he was going to be great because he’s an amazing driver and I saw that on many occasions last year,” he said.
“When I started the season, it was obviously very close between the two of us in the first two races. He’s obviously done an exceptional job in the last couple of races.”
Mercedes were also linked with Carlos Sainz, the victim of Hamilton’s Ferrari move. Sainz is a multiple Grand Prix winner but also a known quantity at this stage, so perhaps Russell should have recommended him instead.
The Briton may have felt he could become the team leader alongside a rookie, but if he had that status last year, the dynamic has changed. Antonelli looks like a generational talent, just as Mercedes insiders predicted.
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