Karun Chandhok thinks Mercedes are ‘protecting’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli after what he saw

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Karun Chandhok thinks Mercedes are ‘protecting’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli after what the Formula 1 pundit saw the Silver Arrows do after a mistake by their future 2025 driver.

Antonelli will become the third youngest F1 driver of all time when he registers his debut for Mercedes at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix. Next season’s calendar will start on March 16 in Melbourne, at which point the Italian hotshot will be aged 18 years, six months and 19 days.

Only Max Verstappen (17y, 166d) and Lance Stroll (18y, 148d) will have started a Grand Prix younger than Antonelli will be in Australia. Yet Mercedes have chosen him to replace seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton after the 39-year-old signed a multi-year deal with Ferrari.

Karun Chandhok loved Mercedes’ reaction to Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Italian GP FP1 crash

Antonelli will also step into the pinnacle of motorsport after a rapid rise up the single-seater junior ladder. The Bologna boy won the Italian and ADAC F4 titles in 2022 before his Formula Regional European and Middle East double in 2023 and then debuted in Formula 2 this year.

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

Despite his rapid raise, Chandhok has long praised Antonelli’s potential after catching a sight of him testing Formula 3 cars at Silverstone last winter. The off-season session left a huge impression on the former HRT driver before Antonelli has since gone on to win in Formula 2.

Antonelli mastered rain and safety car restarts to win the F2 Sprint Race at Silverstone back in July. But his first time behind the wheel of an F1 car on a Grand Prix weekend did not end as positively. Antonelli crashed in FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix in George Russell’s Mercedes.

But watching Mercedes rally around Antonelli after his crash at Monza, even confirming him as Hamilton’s replacement the very next day, convinced Chandhok that the Silver Arrows are protecting the teenager. He is still not sure if Antonelli’s F1 debut will be too soon, however.

“When he makes mistakes [and] he has a crash, they don’t point a finger. They put an arm around him,” Chandhok said on Sky Sports F1 (14/9, 11:03). “They’re really protecting him and supporting him on this journey, and we saw that in Monza.

“I’ve seen it first-hand, I was standing trackside when he was testing an F3 car at Silverstone this year, he’s got phenomenal natural speed. Whether it’s too early to go straight into a top team? I think that will only be born out with what we see next year.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli will join F1 with the weight of Italy on his shoulders

Mercedes made a massive show of their support in Antonelli’s potential by announcing that he will replace Hamilton in 2025 the day after he crashed in Russell’s car in FP1 at the Italian GP. That the Silver Arrows made the announcement at his home race was also another sign.

Antonelli will debut in Formula 1 for Mercedes at the 2025 Australian GP with the weight of Italy on his shoulders. The nation has been crying out for its next great hope in F1 and put a lot of faith in Antonelli after he dominated in go-karts and joined Mercedes’ driver academy.

Few drivers earned as much applause from the Tifosi at Monza than Antonelli when making his F1 weekend debut in FP1. Italy has already taken him into their hearts and will want him to succeed. So, Mercedes protecting Antonelli, as Chandhok believes, will be a huge benefit.