Andrea Kimi Antonelli says a breakthrough test at Spa-Francorchamps was key to convincing Mercedes he had overcome a key weakness and deserved an F1 race seat.
The young Italian had long been in the frame to become Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes for 2025, but early testing in an old F1 car had exposed some elements he needed to improve on.
For while there was little doubt about his raw speed and ability to deliver fast individual laps, he was still lacking early on when it came to showing consistency over race-distance runs.
But he says that a step change on that front was made during a post Belgian Grand Prix test before the summer break, and that proved enough for Mercedes to commit to him for next year.
Reflecting on his testing progress in a 2022 car during an appearance at «Il Festival dello Sport» organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Antonelli singled out the Spa run as significant.
«During the TPC [testing of previous cars] tests, one thing that impressed them was how quickly I got to the limit and how quickly I got to the target lap times that Mercedes wanted,” he said.
“But I have to say that the factor on which I struggled the most during testing was the race pace.
“However, in the last two days of testing at Spa, I improved the race pace considerably, and that pushed Mercedes to sign me.
“Until that moment, they had an idea that they wanted to put me in the Mercedes car in 2025, but first they wanted to see if I could improve those weaknesses I had.
“During the Spa tests, I made a good step forward and that convinced Mercedes.
“In fact, before the summer break, I had a call with [Toto] Wolff, my engineer and other people from Mercedes. It was there they told me that I would be one of their drivers in 2025. It was a good moment.»
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes F1 W15, crashes out in FP1
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
While Mercedes is playing down expectations for Antonelli, especially after his first FP1 run at Monza ended with a crash after just ten minutes, he is quite ambitious in terms of what he wants to deliver.
In fact, Antonelli says that the target is to become a race winner in his rookie F1 season.
«I feel ready for F1,” he explained. “In terms of speed, I think it won’t be a problem. The only thing where there will be a lot of work to do is about how to manage the weekend in the best possible way and also to learn all the procedures. So, there will be a lot of things to learn.
“Definitely winning some races [next year] would be a dream. It won’t be easy, because all the teams will have a competitive car, so it will be very difficult, but this is the target.
“Some podiums would also be good, but the main goal is to bring home some wins.”
Home steering wheel and simulator
Antonelli also offered some insight into how Mercedes is helping prepare him for the challenges of an F1 weekend – through a mixture of overloading with information in testing, plus getting a home-sim rig set-up.
«It will be important to learn not to lose concentration when someone is talking to you from the pits, because they are doing it to give you useful information,” he said.
“In testing they are talking to me more and more, because in F1 it is crucial to learn the procedures. So when they ask you for a change, you have to know what button you have to touch on the steering wheel and what it does.
“These are all things I’m learning and getting used to, so I’m also doing the tests not only to improve as a driver, but also to learn the procedures and get used to having a person on the radio talking to you constantly.
“Mercedes is going to send me a steering wheel and a small simulator at home to learn how to do the race starts, so I will be able to practice.
“The steering wheel is the Formula 1 steering wheel, so it will help me memorise the buttons as well. At high speeds you don’t have time to look at the steering wheel. You have to know it by heart.”
Additional reporting by Gianluca D’Alessandro