Mercedes prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli is set for his first taste of Formula 1 machinery this month.
The 17-year-old is highly rated by Silver Arrows chiefs, especially team principal Toto Wolff. Despite his age, he is considered to be a genuine contender for the seat that will be vacated by Lewis Hamilton at the end of the year.
And it seems the plan is to get him ready to potentially make that step up. Antonelli is set for several F1 outings over the course of 2024, the first coming in the form of a two-day test at Austria's Red Bull Ring on April 16/17.
The Italian youngster will get behind the wheel of the Mercedes W12, which won the constructors' championship in that infamous 2021 F1 season. And it is clear that it will be the first of several auditions for the youngster to prove he is ready for the jump so early in his career.
His performances in the tests to come will surely have a significant influence on the massive decision Wolff has to make this year. Replacing seven-time F1 champion Hamilton with a teenager is a significant risk, but one he is giving serious consideration to taking.
Antonelli has turned heads since his karting days and hasn't stopped winning since making the step up to single-seater cars. His five series wins at Formula 4 level since 2022 led to him skipping Formula 3 altogether to line up in Formula 2 this season.
He races for the Prema team which has a strong track record of guiding talented stars to F1. Among the team's previous F2 champions are the likes of Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri.
Catch all the action from Formula One on Sky Sports and get exclusive access to races, qualifying and much more for every Grand Prix. From Max Verstappen to Lewis Hamilton, you won't miss a lap on Sky Sports.
This year, Prema are fielding Antonelli alongside another talented teenager in Oliver Bearman. The Briton impressed in his surprise F1 debut for Ferrari at last month's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which gives Mercedes a useful yardstick against which they can measure their own starlet's progress this year.
Though Wolff is considering Antonelli as a candidate for a Mercedes seat next year, it is far from their only option for the Italian teenager. He could be placed at a customer team, such as Williams, instead, to blood him in F1 first, or he could remain at F2 level for another year.
Antonelli is ninth in the F2 standings after the first three rounds of the season. Prema were off the pace in Bahrain which limited him to just a single point scored, though results picked up in his next two outings including a fourth-placed finish in Melbourne last time out.