Heir to Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes throne, Kimi Antonelli is perhaps the most exciting prospect on the 2025 F1 grid.
The young Italian has spearheaded his way through motor sport’s junior ranks — winning numerous karting and single-seater titles along the way — before receiving his F1 promotion with Mercedes, where he’ll become the third-youngest driver to ever sit behind the wheel of a grand prix car.
But despite the hoards of attention Antonelli has already received, there is still an aura of mystery surrounding him. He’s had Toto Wolff’s seal of approval, but will that translate directly into immediate and impressive on-track results?
His career so far suggests it will.
Karting
Antonelli’s racing career began on the same path as many. Aged seven, he got behind the wheel of a go-kart for the first time but just two years later, he was winning the EasyKart International Grand Final from the eleventh row on the grid.
The young Italian continued to develop in 2018, winning the finale of the WSK Champions Cup 60 Mini and also taking overall victory in the ROK Cup International Final.
In 2019, he won the WSK Super Master Series and the WSK Euro Series while also placing fifth in his first trip to the FIA World Championships.
Further podium finishes in the FIA European Championship and the Italian Championship as well as back-to-back victories in the WSK Open Cup and WSK Final Cup were ultimately enough to convince Toto Wolff of his talent, and Antonelli was signed to the Mercedes Junior Academy.
2020 was Antonelli’s final year in karts, with wins in the WSK Euro Series and the FIA European Championship, before stepping up to single seaters.
Formula 4
In 2021, Mercedes looked to throw Antonelli into the deep end, with Formula 4 campaigns in Italy and the UAE.
In the former, the 15 year old made nine race starts, secured three podium finishes and finished tenth in the drivers’ standings. In the latter, he won two races and scored five further podium finishes against stiff and largely more experienced opposition.
In 2022, Antonelli returned to dominate the Italian F4 Championship: winning 13 races as well as capturing pole position and setting the fastest lap in all but six rounds out of 20. He simultaneously dominated the ADAC F4 Championship, winning nine races, securing 12 podiums and capturing seven pole positions.
Formula Regional
In 2023, Antonelli made the step up to Formula Regional — a series which has quickly become an important stepping stone on the road to Formula 1.
Racing for Prema, Antonelli ran in both the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine and in the Middle East Championship too. He secured eight victories and captured a further 18 podium finishes overall across the two series, winning both titles.
Keen to continue his meteoric rise, Antonelli was promoted into F2 for 2024.
Formula 2
Antonelli’s first and only season in F2 didn’t exactly match up to the success he had had in other series.
Racing for an underperforming Prema squad, the Italian scored just a single point on debut in Bahrain, and he finished no higher than fourth through the first seven rounds. However, after a sprint win at Silverstone and a feature race win in Hungary — in which he qualified seventh and climbed through the field to take a dominant victory, over 13 seconds clear of the next-nearest competitor — Mercedes felt confident in announcing the Italian as George Russell’s F1 team-mate for 2025.
