Kimi Antonelli sets ‘goal’ of matching George Russell in one area before the end of the 2025 F1 season

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Kimi Antonelli’s first season in Formula 1 has been a tough one for the 18-year-old with some highs and lows throughout the 14 races.

The Mercedes driver came into the summer break off the back of two poor weekends in Spa Francorchamps and Hungary, with Antonelli revealing that he held conversations with Lewis Hamilton over how to deal with the troubled weekends.

Irrespective of these performances, Antonelli has still scored 43% of the points that George Russell has achieved, putting him close to what Oscar Piastri managed in his rookie season.

The Mercedes is a proven race winner with Russell having won earlier this year, and now Antonelli will be hopeful that he can achieve the same in the second half of the season.

To do that, the Italian believes he must achieve one goal first, which has irked him since the start of the season, and he believes it will be key to unlocking his full potential, as he told Auto Motor Und Sport.

Kimi Antonelli thinks he needs to drive more like George Russell

Russell is currently performing at a different level to Antonelli, but his circumstances are also slightly different since Mercedes are yet to offer him a contract extension.

Antonelli is also out of contract for 2026, but the Italian is favoured to stay at the team alongside Russell. However, the length of their contracts will likely differ if Mercedes retains an interest in pursuing Max Verstappen.

Irrespective of their futures at the team, Antonelli thinks he needs to reach the same level of consistency as Russell by the end of the season.

“My goal must be to drive the same times as him. I also believe that this is possible. George has an extremely strong season. He shows that he is one of the best,” said Antonelli.

“Especially when the car works, it demonstrates what it can do. He is a really challenging teammate. If I was at his level at the end of the year, it would be an award.”

Where does Kimi Antonelli need to improve?

The Italian has been open about his struggles this year and how difficult it has been specifically, to get on top of the Pirelli tyres, which can be tricky to get into the right operating window.

Antonelli explained that this impacts his confidence going into sessions, particularly in qualifying, where he has only beaten Russell once.

“I’ve been struggling to find the consistency in the tyre. The C6 seems to be a super picky tyre, and it’s really difficult to put it in the right window already from the out lap. That’s what I’ve been struggling with,” said Antonelli.

“In Imola, I was having such a swing of performances between sessions. In FP3, I remember we were up there, and then in qualifying, I suddenly lost five or six tenths compared to FP3. So I’ve been really struggling to understand the tyre and to put it in the right window, and that took some confidence away.”

Mercedes has also had their fair share of car problems, notably in certain climatic conditions which impact their drivers. Toto Wolff has told Mercedes engineers to get on top of their warm-weather problems, after it has become a trend in recent seasons.