Martin Brundle has now made an ‘obvious’ prediction about Kimi Antonelli’s future at Mercedes

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Martin Brundle has been speaking about Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli ahead of his second season as a Formula 1 driver.

The most difficult season for any F1 driver to navigate is their maiden one, and Kimi Antonelli had to face plenty of speculation about his future during his first 12 months on the grid.

Antonelli impressed at the beginning of 2025, but a tricky patch in the middle of the season led to questions over whether Toto Wolff would continue with him into this year or pursue a move for Max Verstappen.

George Russell topped the lap count at the Barcelona Shakedown 🔥

But is mileage everything at this stage? 🤔

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Mercedes appeared keen to sign Verstappen, but he committed his future to Red Bull, and so Antonelli and teammate George Russell earned contract extensions as a result.

However, the F1 driver market is expected to be very active this year, and Antonelli could be at the centre of that speculation if Verstappen’s Red Bull isn’t competitive and he seeks a move away from the team.

Martin Brundle has now given his verdict on both Mercedes drivers and thinks Antonelli has nothing to worry about going into 2026.

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

Martin Brundle calls Kimi Antonelli the ‘heir apparent’ at Mercedes and makes George Russell prediction

Speaking on The F1 Show, Brundle was talking about Mercedes alongside Ted Kravitz and Craig Slater.

Mercedes completed more laps than any other team, and commenting on Russell, Kravitz said: “George’s training camp has obviously worked out well!”

Slater replied: “He’s 6’2 or thereabouts. He looks like a welterweight.

“I’ve just come back from Detroit. He looks like Tommy Hearns. I mean, he looks fantastic.”

Brundle agreed with Slater and explained: “Yeah, I think he must sense there’s a chance of a world championship here, George Russell.

“I think Kimi Antonelli will be even closer to him this year. He’s got that experience under his belt.

“He went on the missing list last year. Kimi did, didn’t he, for nine races. But impressively for such a young man, he kept his head together and brought that around and gave George a much closer run in the final stage of the season.

What’s stopping George Russell from winning the drivers’ championship this season?

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“I think they’re two very well-matched drivers. These cars, I think, will be quite flighty from time to time in certain conditions, safety car restarts, wet, dry, will it, won’t it, kind of moments.

“And I think George’s experience will show. If I had to guess, I’d put my money on George on a season-long basis, but I think those two will be mightily strong.

“We can expect some now that Kimi’s survived his first season and he’s got so much support in the team and so much support from Toto and everybody that he’s the heir apparent there, that’s quite obvious.

“And so he doesn’t have to keep looking over his shoulder all the time.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Martin Brundle might have spotted a key Mercedes issue during Barcelona shakedown

Before the shakedown in Barcelona even started, many people were tipping Mercedes to be the team to beat.

Wolff’s team were the only outfit to complete more than 500 laps, and it’s believed that Antonelli and Russell were even doing qualifying and race simulations on their final day of running.

However, Brundle has spotted a potential issue for Mercedes despite being the standout manufacturer at the Circuit de Catalunya.

He’s still not sure how competitive they will be despite making Russell his favourite to win the title at this early stage of the campaign.

For Antonelli, he will be keen to close the gap to his teammate, but more importantly, he’ll be pleased that the assumption is that his seat is safe, even if many drivers will be putting their names forward to replace him if Mercedes are as dominant as people expect them to be.