Kimi Antonelli told why he shouldn’t be learning from George Russell at Mercedes

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Mercedes protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli will make his full-time F1 debut next year alongside George Russell, in what is one of the most anticipated driver moves of the season.

The 18-year-old is going to replace seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who will be making the move to Ferrari in a bid to win an eighth title.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli got his first taste of what’s in store for him next season when Mercedes ran him during FP1 at Monza. While he posted quick times almost immediately after taking to the track, Antonelli’s session was shortlived when he crashed just 10 minutes into his run after a mistake at the Parabolica.

The incident was caused by him taking too much life out of the tyres early on and pushing on the dirty circuit, with the impact measuring 52Gs on the FIA sensors. Martin Brundle believes he is the ‘luckiest driver ever’ on the grid after Mercedes appeared to not be too concerned.

Peter Windsor believes Antonelli was likely trying to mimic George Russell’s pace, rather than copying Hamilton’s approach when speaking on the Cameron Cc podcast.

Peter Windsor thinks Kimi Antonelli should learn from Lewis Hamilton

While Hamilton is leaving Mercedes at the end of the season, Antonelli still has an opportunity to learn from the seven-time World Champion.

Hamilton backed Mercedes when they signed the Italian in 2018 onto their Driver Academy, while it did not take long for Mercedes chiefs to consider Antonelli as his replacement when the Ferrari announcement happened in February.

Windsor thinks Antonelli’s driving style is closer to Hamilton and that there is a risk if he tries to learn from Russell during his time at Mercedes.

“He [Antonelli] obviously hasn’t been learning anything from Lewis at at all. He’s probably been looking at George’s stuff. He’s not a George Russell-type driver who is a more Ayrton Senna mould,” said Windsor.

“Antonelli is more like Lewis, in that he uses short corners. But if Antonelli looks at what George is doing, it’s only going to confuse him. I presume they know all that at Mercedes.”

Theo Pourchaire warns Andrea Kimi Antonelli in for ‘very difficult’ debut season

Former F2 racer and 2023 champion Theo Pourchiare believes Antonelli is in for a tough first season, simply owing to the expectations at Mercedes.

While the team started on the back foot this season, the thinking behind promoting Antonelli was that Mercedes had nothing to lose because it was unlikely they could challenge for titles.

READ MORE: What makes Kimi Antonelli so highly rated by Mercedes?

But after winning three races before the summer break, it appears Mercedes has not got on top of their problems and could genuinely challenge for a title in 2025.

Whether that means prioritising Russell over the Italian is something for them to consider, but the dynamics within Mercedes have changed. Antonelli will now need to deliver results out of the box, which could be overwhelming.