Peter Windsor noticed something ‘odd’ about Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes return at Mexico City Grand Prix

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli was handed his second FP1 appearance with Mercedes at the Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of his move to the team in 2025.

The Italian will be joining Mercedes next year as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement, with the seven-time world champion making his sensational move to Ferrari on a multi-year deal.

Antonelli made his F1 debut with the Silver Arrows at his home race at the Italian Grand Prix, driving George Russell’s car in FP1.

But the session did not go according to plan as Antonelli suffered a 52G crash at Parabolica after just 10 minutes. The 18-year-old had been pushing hard on the soft tyre before he lost the back end at the final corner.

Despite this crash, Antonelli had earned praise from Mercedes during the test. In fact, the Italian was confirmed as the second Mercedes driver the following day.

Peter Windsor found Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s pace ‘odd’ compared to George Russell in Mexico

The Italian returned to the cockpit of the W15 at the Mexico City Grand Prix, this time in Hamilton’s car alongside Russell, and was one of five rookies to take part in the session.

Antonelli finished highest of the rookie drivers and he ended the session in 12th, while Russell topped the times over Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda.

Russell’s table-topping time was 1.2 seconds quicker than the 18-year-old, which was the biggest margin between a rookie and their teammate in FP1. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Peter Windsor found this performance ‘odd’ despite being the fastest of the rookies.

He said: “And the slowest of the lot actually, and this partly reflects the speed of George Russell, and I guess partly reflects also the shunt he had at Monza when they put him out on the soft tyres right at the beginning of FP1 and he crashed at the Parabolica.

“This time all the rookies went out a little bit later than the regular drivers, and Antonelli, yeah, 1.2 seconds off the pace, off the George Russell pace in what, on that morning in Mexico, was quite a quick car.

“So, yeah, a bit of an odd performance.”

Is there too much pressure being put on Andrea Kimi Antonelli?

Making your F1 debut with Mercedes is one thing. Coming into Mercedes as the replacement for a seven-time world champion as an 18-year-old will bring a ridiculous amount of pressure to perform.

Antonelli has had a meteoric rise through the ranks in motorsport and has won several titles in his career already, These results have prompted many to believe that he will do the same in F1, with Helmut Marko warning Antonelli to bring results now to succeed.

Alex Jacques believes the 2025 season will be ‘easier for Antonelli’s F2 teammate Oliver Bearman, which is mainly due to the fact that Bearman has already made his F1 debut and that the Brit will be joining Haas next year, which is a team that is not really expected to perform at the front.

Antonelli is joining a team that can fight for wins and it is clear how much Mercedes rate him. Toto Wolff is not expecting Antonelli to blast the field on his debut in Melbourne, as he is not willing to put too much pressure on a driver that has got serious potential in his F1 career.