Kimi Antonelli speaks out about replacing Lewis Hamilton after British Grand Prix

Kimi Antonelli has admitted that he is struggling to deal with the ‘pressure’ of being linked with a Mercedes F1 seat next season. The 17-year-old is being lined up to replace the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton next season, despite the fact that he was racing in Formula Regional cars only last year.

In the eyes of Toto Wolff, Antonelli is a generational talent with the potential to become a future world champion. After missing out on signing Max Verstappen as a teenager, the Mercedes team principal is hell-bent on avoiding a repeat scenario in 2024.

However, despite Wolff pinning his hopes on the Italian’s shoulders, not everyone is convinced. Antonelli headed into the British Grand Prix weekend ninth in the Formula Two standings without a win to his name. This changed on Saturday though as he controlled a weather-affected sprint race at Silverstone.

Speaking out after securing his first F2 win, Antonelli said: “Not always do I cope really well with pressure. Obviously, this season has been a big amount of pressure, to be honest. But I can say today that I coped with it pretty well. There are still some improvements because sometimes I still make some mistakes.

“For example, yesterday in qualifying, I did a mistake on my lap and lost quite a bit of time. So definitely, sometimes I still don’t perform as I could. But I’m trying every time to cope as best as I can with the pressure, and I think today was really the showcase. It was a big relief for me because it really takes a lot of weight from my shoulders.”

Replacing Hamilton will no doubt be a daunting task. The Brit was already the all-time leading victory scorer in F1 heading into the British GP, but increased his tally from 103 wins to 104, ending a 945-day wait for a Grand Prix triumph with a sensational drive in front of a packed-out home crowd.

Mercedes’ team principal Wolff isn’t worried about the pressure facing the crown jewel of his driver development programme though. “I don’t think that the pressure harms at all the way he performs in the car and how he drives,” he explained of Antonelli at Silverstone.

“He’s 17. Hasn’t even a driving license for a road car. And the best ones will be able to cope with that, with the amount of scrutiny and the pressure, and it’s going to get bigger.”