F1 News: Potential Lewis Hamilton Replacement Casts Doubt On Mercedes Move

Saajan Jogia | Jul 23, 2024

Andrea Kimi Antonelli - Prema Racing /

Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli has revealed that he is unsure about filling Lewis Hamilton's Formula 1 seat at Mercedes after the seven-time world champion moves to Ferrari for the 2025 season.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has high praise for the 17-year-old driver and is seriously considering having him drive alongside George Russell. Wolff has also been keeping Carlos Sainz on hold for the 2025 seat as he takes his time to decide a suitable contender.

Antonelli gained further attention after his Prema Racing teammate, Oliver Bearman, secured a Formula 1 contract with Haas for next season. Both drivers have faced a challenging campaign with their teams, although Antonelli's recent results have been more positive, creating a 51-point gap between the pair.

However, in a rather honest interview, Kimi Antonelli clarified that he is unsure of being ready for Formula 1 in 2025 as he continues to focus on improving himself in F2. He told RacingNews365:

"I don't know if I will be ready, to be honest.

"I'm still learning a lot in F2, and definitely, I still make quite a few mistakes, [and there are] a few details that really matter, and I'm still not doing them right. I'm still not doing everything right.

"I'm trying to improve and to not make the same mistakes again, and I think today was the proof."

Antonelli bagged his first feature race victory of the F2 season with Prema Racing in Hungary, just two weeks after securing his maiden sprint win during the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone. Despite the achievements, the Italian junior driver emphasized that nothing is official for 2025 and prefers not to dwell on it. Instead, he is focused on delivering his best performance in F2. He added:

"About next year, I don't really want to think about it because nothing is official, and I don't know anything, to be honest.

"The goal is to do the best year in F2, and to come away with two wins is really good on the mental side, for the team as well, because we struggled at the start of the season, but now we're building the momentum.

"In Silverstone, it was a win in the wet. So our main focus was to improve in the dry, which we have done this weekend.

"Hopefully, we can keep this momentum going in Spa [next weekend], obviously, a different track, a bit more high speed compared to this track so we'll see how it will play out."