- Kimi Antonelli could be a candidate for a F1 ride at Mercedes as soon as 2025 after opening created by Lewis Hamilton’s impending move to Ferrari.
- Another possible landing spot for Antonelli is Williams, where Logan Sargeant has struggled.
- Formula 1 regulations state that a driver must be 18 years old to possess a Super License required to race in F1. Antonelli turns 18 on Aug. 25.
Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, has received a request for a Super License to be granted for Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli, as rumors grow of him joining the grid.
Mercedes protégé Antonelli was fast-tracked from Formula Regional to Formula 2 for 2024, skipping Formula 3, and has emerged as a candidate for a Mercedes seat for 2025. Mercedes always had Antonelli earmarked as a possible candidate for 2026 but the notion of the Italian youngster stepping up to the team in 2025 has been accelerated by Lewis Hamilton’s impending move to Ferrari.
Antonelli has sufficient points from his junior resume’ in order to qualify for a Super License, having won Italian F4 and German F4 titles in 2022, before his Formula Regional European Championship in 2023. But the stumbling block short-term remains his age, as he does not turn 18 until August 25.
Formula 1 regulations state that a driver must be 18 in order to race in the championship, a rule that was introduced in the wake of Max Verstappen debuting as a 17-year-old in 2015.
The FIA confirmed on Friday that they have received a request to grant special dispensation for Antonelli.
“We are looking into it, but there’s a process to be followed and multiple people/commissions required to vote and agree to it if as it requires a rule change,” read a statement.
Antonelli, ninth in the Formula 2 championship, has recently started his planned private testing program with long-term backers Mercedes. Antonelli tested Mercedes’ 2021-spec W12 at Austrian Grand Prix venue Spielberg before getting behind the wheel of the team’s 2022-spec W13 at Emilia Romagna Grand Prix track Imola, the location for the next Formula 1 round.
Antonelli is just ninth in the Formula 2 standings, but he has enough Super License points from other series efforts over the past two years to qualify for a Super License.
Williams has been touted as a possible destination for Antonelli, given its ties with Mercedes, while Williams team principal James Vowles was involved in Mercedes’ young driver program when Antonelli was brought onboard. One suggestion has been that Antonelli would receive a partial season with Williams, once he turns 18, in order to gain experience ahead of a 2025 role with Mercedes.
American driver Logan Sargeant is under pressure to retain his seat after a difficult rookie season and subdued start to his sophomore campaign.
Vowles downplayed the connection to Antonelli on Friday, explaining that “I haven’t spoken to Kimi since Abu Dhabi last year. I hope that puts it into context, I know nothing about what’s going on in Mercedes tests right now. We are looking, as everyone else is, for where we want to be on driver lineup for next year and we have our own young driver program.”
Vowles nonetheless outlined that Sargeant has “some tough targets” set in order to get closer to teammate Alex Albon but that “there is nothing on the radar at the moment for replacing him.”
Vowles went on to emphasize that there is no truth to rumors that Antonelli could be in the car from the next round at Imola.
Expanding further on the situation, Vowles said: “We have far bigger problems to solve than drivers at the moment. Alex has done championship level drives and at the moment he’s not scoring points.
“Fundamentally we have it on us to improve our car going forward, that’s my primary concern more than anything else, and what we do with drivers going into ’25 or ’26, a lot of us here are just sorting out where we’re going to be next year fundamentally. Of that there are options on the table, but it is far too early to tell. In the sense of Kimi, you have to remember it’s just 20 months ago he was in a Formula 4 car, that’s a large, large step up into a Formula 1 car in such a short space of time.”
Drivers must be in receipt of a Super License in order to race or participate in an official practice session in Formula 1.
The FIA rejected an exemption request in 2022 when AlphaTauri was interested in fielding IndyCar race winner Colton Herta for 2023—Herta had not accumulated the sufficient points for a Super License and thus the application was turned down.
U.K.-based Phillip Horton started covering Grands Prix while still at university and swiftly deemed that writing about Formula 1 and the behind-the-scenes machinations was much more engaging than reading centuries-old novels. Degree gained, he went on to cover the sport full-time from 2014 and is as intrigued and excited by the destinations Formula 1 visits during its lengthy annual world tour as the racing itself. Phillip joined Autoweek in 2021 and while he has just about learned to spell in American English he has yet to find anywhere in America that makes a proper cup of tea.
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