Juan Pablo Montoya thinks Mercedes already face a ‘serious’ problem with Kimi Antonelli

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Formula 1 will see several rookies take part in their first full season in 2025.

Four new drivers have been confirmed for next season at this stage, although Oliver Bearman has already taken part in too many races to be considered a rookie for F1’s post-season test in Abu Dhabi before starting his first full campaign with Haas.

Jack Doohan’s Alpine future is already in doubt even though he hasn’t taken part in an F1 race ahead of replacing Esteban Ocon next year.

Gabriel Bortoleto has signed a deal to join Sauber from McLaren’s development program for next year as he aims to win the Formula 2 championship.

However, arguably the biggest and most exciting name out of all the confirmed rookies on the grid is Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli will replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2025 and he has some of the biggest shoes in the sport’s history to fill.

That comes with an unbelievable amount of pressure and speaking on W Radio’s YouTube channel, former F1 race winner Juan Pablo Montoya has voiced his concerns about the Italian teenager.

Team principal Toto Wolff will know how important it is to give Antonelli time to make mistakes, but the pressure of driving for a team like Mercedes who are chasing race wins is that the bedding-in period can’t last too long.

Juan Pablo Montoya has ‘serious’ concerns about Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli

Talking about the Italian youngster, Montoya said: “Antonelli has the speed to be in Formula 1, he has the ability to be in Formula 1.

“The question is if he is well prepared enough. He has done millions and millions and millions of laps compared to all the people who are racing next year except the guys in Formula 1.

“The preparation that they did in F2 against the rest of the drivers, what Mercedes did in the old F1 cars, going to all of the tracks, two weeks, three weeks before each race, he is super prepared for each race, for each track.

READ MORE: Who is 2025 Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli? Everything to know

“What happened in Mexico City for me, and we talked about the other time [in Monza], how slow it was in Mexico, I would say that is serious.

“In Italy, he came out and tried to beat the lap record on the first lap and broke the car and here he came out not to break the car slowly.

“So, they kill him for crashing and they kill him by driving slowly and that is the reality of this.

“You have to learn how far you can push and understand that balance.”

Kimi Antonelli has impressed in behind-the-scenes Mercedes tests but FP1 runs haven’t gone as well

The 18-year-old has been doing a huge amount of running in behind-closed-doors tests for Mercedes to prepare for 2025.

Antonelli immediately impressed Mercedes staff with his first runs in their Formula 1 cars and that played a big part in his promotion.

His maiden Formula 2 season has been fine but not exceptional as Antonelli has had to settle for a single Sprint Race and Feature Race victory.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Mercedes AMG F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Unfortunately, Antonelli’s FP1 runs with Mercedes haven’t gone as smoothly as he would have hoped.

He had a huge crash in front of his home crowd on his second push lap on his first outing in Monza.

Antonelli was pushing at speeds that even Hamilton couldn’t match going into the Parabolica and it wasn’t a surprise that he ended up in the barriers.

Peter Windsor noticed something odd about Antonelli’s Mexico City practice, and as Montoya suggested, he may have been driving within himself to avoid causing further damage to the car.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how Antonelli copes with the pressure of racing for Mercedes and if he can showcase the talent that Wolff and everyone else in the team sees in him.