What Mercedes have now done at Kimi Antonelli’s home to prepare him for his 2025 F1 debut

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli has less than six months to go until he makes his full Formula 1 debut for Mercedes at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.

Mercedes have already given Kimi Antonelli his first taste of action in their 2024 F1 car this season, albeit his FP1 session at Monza came to an end within ten minutes of practice starting.

Antonelli has done thousands of kilometres of running in some of Mercedes’s older Formula 1 cars behind the scenes this year.

Mercedes have been left very impressed by Antonelli’s outings during these test days, but the 18-year-old has a long way to go before he’s ready to replace Lewis Hamilton.

READ MORE: Who is 2025 Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli? Everything to know

Journalist Kemal Sengul has shared the next step Mercedes have taken to help Antonelli prepare for his competitive F1 debut.

As well as running Antonelli in at least one more FP1 session before the end of the season, Mercedes want him to use his time away from the circuit as effectively as possible.

Mercedes are set to deliver a simulator to Antonelli’s home to help him get to grips with the car as much as possible.

There’s no substitute for running on a track in the specific car he’s going to be racing, but it’s much better than nothing.

Plenty of F1 drivers already have simulators at their homes, although Antonelli is also from the generation of racers who spend a lot of their time racing virtually to keep their skills sharp away from the track.

Mercedes set to install simulator at Kimi Antonelli’s home before 2025 F1 debut

Modern Formula 1 has been made more cost-effective for teams, ironically to attract interest from new manufacturers despite rejecting Andretti’s bid to join the sport.

One of the impacts of these changes is to ban in-season testing, with drivers only allowed to run cars that are at least two years old.

It means Antonelli has done hundreds of laps in Mercedes’s 2022 car but that’s a very different beast to the 2025 vehicle he’ll be racing next year.

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

Posting on social media, Sengul said: “Due to the lack of testing, Mercedes has decided to install simulation equipment at Antonelli’s home to help his development and preparation. They’re all coming soon.

“Thanks to the steering wheel and simulation, it is planned to get used to the buttons and procedures such as starting more quickly.”

Toto Wolff has already predicted Kimi Antonelli’s Formula 1 debut

At the time of writing, three drivers will be making their full debuts at next season’s Australian Grand Prix.

Oliver Bearman has started two races for Ferrari and Haas in 2024, but his full-time contract with the American outfit doesn’t start until next year.

He and his F2 Prema teammate Antonelli will be joined by Alpine’s new recruit Jack Doohan who has been acting as the team’s reserve and simulator driver this year.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has already made a prediction for Antonelli’s F1 debut and he’s faced with the daunting task of competing with George Russell next year.

The Brit will be entering the final year of his contract, giving him another reason to try and outperform the young Italian with Wolff’s admiration for Max Verstappen already well established.