Kimi Antonelli admits the ‘unnecessary’ decision that has tainted his rookie F1 season at Mercedes

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Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli made a record-breaking start to his F1 career, but the Italian sensation then lost some of his shine after the season reached Europe.

The Silver Arrows put their faith in one of their own by naming the 18-year-old as the heir to seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton for the 2025 F1 season. The challenge of replacing the most successful driver in history was not too big for Antonelli during the early flyaways, too.

Mercedes immediately saw Antonelli show why they made him the third-youngest F1 driver when he rose from P16 to P4 in the Australian Grand Prix. Antonelli broke Max Verstappen’s record as F1’s youngest Grand Prix leader in Japan, as well as registering the fastest lap, too.

But after Antonelli became the youngest-ever F1 polesitter in the Miami Sprint, he only took points in two of the next eight rounds. Only his single point for P10 in the Hungarian GP also came in Europe, with Antonelli achieving his maiden F1 podium with P3 in the Canadian GP.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli admits he put ‘unnecessary pressure’ on himself in the European F1 races

Mercedes’ rear suspension upgrade caused Antonelli to lose his confidence with their car in Austria, Britain and Belgium, before it was removed in Hungary. But the Bologna boy admits he also put ‘unnecessary pressure’ on himself to deliver in Europe as he knew those circuits.

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Antonelli told RACER: “I think in the European season, I’ve been putting a bit of unnecessary pressure on myself just because, obviously, I was driving on tracks that I knew already.

“That’s why I felt like in tracks that I didn’t know, I’ve been performing much better just because I had no expectation, and I was just driving naturally and then see what was happening, what was coming as a result.

“And when in European races, I was like, ‘OK, it’s a track I know, I must do well’. But then this made me drive tense and not relaxed, and with more pressure, and that affected the performance, as well.”

Mercedes have seen Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s first real rookie errors during F1’s European leg

Antonelli irked Mercedes after inviting his school friends to Imola for the Emilia Romagna GP at the beginning of the European leg this May. Imola is in Antonelli’s backyard, so he wanted to celebrate the occasion with those close to him. But their presence would be a distraction.

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While his teammate George Russell qualified P3 for the Emilia Romagna GP, Antonelli bowed out in P13. He also retired at Imola with a throttle sensor issue for the 18-year-old’s first DNF in F1. Antonelli’s retirements in Spain (engine) and Britain (collision) were also not his doing.

But Mercedes could only blame their academy product when Antonelli crashed in qualifying for the Monaco GP and would start the race from P15, before finishing in P18. It was also all of his own doing when Antonelli crashed into Verstappen on the first lap of the Austrian GP.

His crash in Q1 in Monaco, having set a lap time fast enough for Q2, marked the third of five times that the Mercedes rookie has failed to reach Q3 after 14 rounds. Also, Antonelli thinks about how much faster he can attack in qualifying on “every lap” as he is not instantly there.