The 2025 F1 driver gamble Mercedes is desperate to make
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- Опубликовано: 7 май 2024
- If you can’t sign Max Verstappen, the best alternative is to get the next Max Verstappen.
And that increasingly appears to be the plan for Mercedes as it works on replacing Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton in 2025.
Mercedes has long seen Andrea Kimi Antonelli - or Kimi Antonelli as he’s known - as the next big thing.
Since it signed the Italian when he was a 12-year-old karter back in April 2019, Antonelli has emerged as the star of the Silver Arrows young driver programme.
And Hamilton’s unexpected departure means Antonelli is on course to be in a Mercedes far earlier than expected, probably as George Russell’s team-mate in 2025.
00:00 Intro
02:56 Antonelli's F1 test plan
04:52 The new Verstappen?
05:58 Antonelli's progress
07:07 The 2025 plan has changed
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My biggest concern with this is some people are going to expect Antonelli to start performing immediately if he takes that Mercedes seat for 2025. He's jumped from F4 to F2 and hasn't even won an F2 race yet, is he really going to be ready for F1? He's a special talent, he needs pacing carefully, not dragged through the junior categories because Toto is too scared to lose him!
Oscar piastri is a special Talent. If Mercedes were smart they would snatch him from Mclaren. Antonelli doesnt seem all that much to me currently. A Max Verstappen jumped into a car and was immediately Winning. Antonelli has Talent obviously but if Hes the next verstappen never ever
How are teams meant to complain about the inexperienced and out-of-depths drivers being on the grid, if they don't rush inexperienced drivers to F1 and accept lots of money to put drivers without lots of talent on the grid.
If time was taken to properly utilize feeder series, drivers might have sufficient confidence to not get flustered by a poor F1 introduction, which would take away some of the sensationalism the press can have with them, which means less clicks. Can't have that, much better to wreck young driver's confidence than risk less BS "news" reporting.
Well, depending on the talent of the said driver junior series only mean that the guy is used to drive at certain speeds. Winning races and championships in those levels don't really matter.
Mercedes should give him a couple races in Super Formula tho.
@@ugotdestroyed4227 "Antonelli doesnt seem all that much to me currently" Based purely on results Antonelli has had a better junior career so far than Piastri had by this point
@@ugotdestroyed4227 Piastri is pretty good but I'll wait till he starts beating Lando with some regularity to say he's special. If Mercedes doesn't feel Antonelli is ready they have Sainz available for free, they don't need to steal drivers from other teams with the associated costs.
It must be so sad for Drugovich and Pourchaire to get completely forgotten and not be an option by any team
Pourchaire will definitely end up at audi or haas with vasseur’s link, no idea about drugovich
I really think Drugovich lost his time. Great talents are coming and 2 seasons without a seat will take its toll.
The other problem is that Drugo refused seats at other categories (Formula E, Indycar, WEC) so he could take a F1 seat freely, but it won't happen and now all the other categories are closed too.
@@KnockthefoutTheo has no link with Ferrari, so no way in hell he's getting a Haas seat unless he brings a lot of money. And Audi is looking for experienced and a german driver
Because both of them are completely forgettable drivers. Drugo was hardly anything special and Pourchaire completely ruined his cred when he got beaten by him in '22 then barely won the title in '23 when he really should've dominated to have any shot at a seat.
Dude, I was thinking this as well. Simply ridiculous. Will blow up in Mercs face if they go with Kimmi. Plus they will lose out on Sainz who is undoubtedly championship material
Good guys Mercedes. Building a shitbox so Antonelli can debut without too much pressure.
BRUH
😂
You did Merc dirty
As a Mercedes fan... you have me laughing.
Yeah and Russell is easy to defeat
Antonelli isn't ready. He's in his first F2 season and is running 9th with no podiums or wins. That's not *bad*, and it's only been a few races, but still. If he doesn't finish this F2 season in the top 3 there's no way he's ready, and that doesn't really look like it's happening. Even if he does and he is though, that's hardly a silver bullet. There's a lot more wrong with Mercedes right now than their driver line-up. Yes, they need two drivers with good pace, but what they need even more is two drivers who have excellent leadership skills and provide excellent feedback to help the team get on top of its correlation issues and inconsistencies. Signing a rookie, even a very promising one, doesn't really sound like the best way of addressing their problems IMO.
Should have been sent to F3 first
But now another year in f2 is antonelli’s most likely option
Well according to the drivers the jump from F2 to F1 is massive, almost indescribable. so does it really even matter how good you are in the lower formula’s at this point?
@@TANGYHATCHYthat’s like saying the jump between gcse physics and a level physics is so great why not just jump to degree level physics?
If you’re not among the best in f2 you don’t deserve to be close to an f1 car.
His results are getting better and better each weekend against a very good grid, if you rate bearman and what he did then he is above that as he is beating him in both race and quali head to head
James Vowles has already said he wouldn't do a driver switch mid season, but these media clowns keep pushing it like he said the opposite.
Especially given the money Sargeant brings to the team.
Also kimi is still 17 and would need a driving license to drive in F1
@@soundscape26 Sargeant doesn't bring any money to the team. Williams have been funding his junior career since 2022. The only reason he's even in F1 is because Williams funded his F2 seat.
@@smokeybandit9760 Well, his family is loaded, to me it always seemed a case not that different from Latifi.
@@soundscape26 Care to point out which logo on the car is associated with Sargeant? They at least have Sofina on the rear wing when Latifi was driving for the team.
It’s honestly annoying hearing the overhyping on Antonelli
It’s the British media. What do you expect?
@@PowellCat745 Well, I would expect them to overhype a british driver, and not an italian one actually
@@eduardoazeredo6250 that too
@@eduardoazeredo6250 ech as long as his not German or French.. and he's worse than Hamilton. it's fair game.
Antonelli its the best junior ever. Not overhyped him its impossible.
But Williams its a better place to start that Mercedes.
Let's not forget that as sensational Max has been right from the start, it took him 3 years to sufficiently mature as an F1 driver. And Max was known to be already very mature for his age back then. So even if you put Antonelli in a Mercedes next year you likely won't get a top-level consistent driver out of him before 2028. Heck, even an exceptional talent like Piastri needs his time to grow in F1. Therefore, expectations around Antonelli should be set accordingly but social media and the press won't have any of that of course. Which puts insane pressure on him. Something Max could deal with extremely well but should not be seen as a given. At all.
but you also can't compare every personality with each other. Oscar only needed the first season to be adequetly mature for F1. And it seems to me that Kimi's personality might rather be like Oscar's than Max's
@@joew.7529 When it comes to race pace and tyre management, in no way could Piastri be considered sufficiently matured in F1. Even his manager Mark Webber acknowledged that Oscar needs 3 seasons in F1 to get this under control.
@@joew.7529 I think you're forgetting something: difference is that Oscar was almost 22years old on his debut, Max just turned 18...
I would say, not ready, you can destroy a driver faster.
This guy is definitely not gonna get the seat for next year way too young theyll reserve driver him for the next few years.
People said the same about Kimi Raikkonen back in the day "too young", "not enough open wheel races", "he will cause accidents every race", "he's always bored and saying bwoah". In the end he was one of the best in the sport.
Also, many drivers that were stellar in the junior categories, won all the titles, had many seasons of preparation, they went to F1 and were average or just not that good. So it's not that black-and-white that more preparation or seasons in the junior categories equals to a better driver in F1.
Mercedes isn't nearly as toxic as Red Bull who just chew through talent, and they have a season to burn in 2025, since 2026 will lift the engine improvement ban.
Odd how Toto used to really talk up Mick Schumacher, while podcasts and pundits nodded along like faithful disciples, but now there's a seat available, he's not even mentioned........
Exactly…..
He got overlooked by Logan Sargeant last year.
Thats like retirement announce in F1.
Maybe because Schumacher was of more importance PR wise than anything else. I mean the man had 2 seasons at Haas and even if the car was bad, he wasn't exactly showing that he's some kind of special talent which only gets held back by his car. I always found it odd, that the (german) media and Toto hyped him up that hard. He may be a hard worker and a nice guy but that isn't enough to race in F1
@@Shibata_ very true. I am German and as all of them used to be a Michael Schumacher fan. Michael was for the Germans what was Senna for the Brazilians. A half-god. So it was definitely Mick's name (and money) and not is outstanding talent that got him the Haas seat (back then remember Haas also got a new German sponsor who demanded a German driver)
I mean Helmut Marko was talking up Nyck De Vries before he actually got a seat, it's not uncommon for people to be wrong about rookies, even those at the very top. In both cases they showed they weren't good enough, and were dropped. Idk why he would keep pushing for Mick to get a seat after it became clear he was wrong about him.
Max started in AT/ RB though. Yes, he quickly moved up, but the sister team is far lower pressure. Max didn't have to even think about the pressures of winning right away, yet with Mercedes will want podiums asap.
Not sure how anyone can seriously believe Verstappen to Mercedes is a serious possibility. Not when Mercedes are fielding the 5th fastest car. They're a midfield team right now and they haven't actually shown us evidence they can change that. I think the only realistic options for a Verstappen move are Ferrari / McLaren
Max is under RB contract until 2028.
Mercedes is NOT the juggernaut that they once were.
Antonelli is not the silver bullet, and all this media attention and pressure is going to sink his career before it starts. Even if he is a great driver, he isn’t ready.
true, also the reason for the hype is that nobody - especially toto - wants to be responsable for missing out on a century-talent like max in the future...
I don’t understand why they’d be looking at their not ready driver with Sainz just sitting out there. Insanity
Sainz would be looking for a long term contract, russel is locked in too so they risk Antonelli being stuck on a williams for years and probably pulling a Piastri move to another team. Alonso would be a much better choice, being an older driver he could be looking for a last season on a great team before retiring
Sainz has option to go to Red bull. Dream Option for Sainz
Why sign a slightly above average driver like Sainz longterm if they already have Russell who surely is the faster driver and have someone like Antonelli in their ranks? This current Sainz recency hype needs to stop. He isn‘t a WDC calibre driver and never will be.
@@Reaz399 slightly above average? What have you been smoking? Did you see what he did to max in Australia before Max’s engine blew. The only man to have won a race besides max in the last 2 years and you think he’s only slightly above. Wow
@@Reaz399Delusional to think Russell is WDC calibre but Sainz isnt.
Poor kid is getting overhyped a bit by the media right now. You can tell now much is going on and RUclipsrs need content because we won't know until much much later in the season
F1 has become no different from a gossip-filled soap opera since the Liberty Media takeover in this regard.
As long as mercedes keeps showing that they really dont understand the ground effect regulations it won't matter how good the driver they'll sign is.
You are quite right, they don't understand the basics of aerodynamics - certainly if Kyle's YT aero channel is anything to go by. Kyle seems to be totally unaware that all the pressure for downforce comes from above. It is atmospheric pressure that provides the force, not suction from below. It really doesn't get more basic than this, though Kyle makes several other howlers.
toto wolf has no idea what he's doing lmao.
He's doing a Helmut Marko. Except Wolff is not Marko and Antonelli is not Verstappen, so what could possibly go wrong?
Give him another year in Formula 2!
Why are we continuing to talk about Max leaving Red Bull when he is under contract for four more years?
And no way he will leave Red bull before next season. He would be giving up a guaranteed wdc.
yea clueless DTS viewers thinking he would leave the fastest car 😆😆only reason he would leave is if redbull screw up the new regs and another team have a faster car
Just give Mick the 2025 seat and see how he performs against Russell in the latter part of the season. If he has no chance against him I think he wouldn't cause problems if he would be replaced by Antonelli in 2026 right away. I doubt Antonelli would "betray" Mercedes if he wouldn't get the 2025 seat, especially if he is guaranteed the 2026 seat pretty much. Mick will know the car better than anyone else but Russell.
I second to this. I think Mick is literally the obvious choice right now. He will no problem having just a 1 year contract and he is already familiar with the team and the new ground effect era cars, on top of that, he won't be expensive to sign either. Just put him in for a year while Antonelli gets better at F2 or at Williams. Then evaluate if he is really a prodigy with the results you have at hand. No need to take this rushed leap of faith. It's not like Merc is in the championship race either. That'll give Mick a chance to clear his name or make him disappear for good. Also, it'll give Toto some credibility, he has been hyping up Mick all around for 2 years now, if he is so good, give him the seat to let him show what he has got.
Oh great we’re doing the “anointing every single young driver with a shred of talent as the next Max Verstappen” thing again?! Awesome I love that
It's utterly laughable. Lauda hailed Max as the talent of the century at Barcelona 2016, everyone can come back in the 2100's to see a driver of his level.
Even Verstappen needed some years of polishing at Toro Rosso. It would be a bad move for Mercedes and Antonelli
@@cobusb8373 My bad. It was more than 1 season, though
@@docmccoy9813 Max also skipped F2 entirely so all things considered that didn't take very long at all.
@@coletrickIeStop lying, you're fooling no one but yourself. You british hamiltoncultists are something else.
Let's get him on the grid first before we compare him to a 3 time world champion who currently drives the fastest car. You guys take 'speculation' to a completely new level...
Without starting rumours and big speculations most f1 youtube videos would t get views
I am 100% in favor of giving new young hot shoes a chance. Sure, you'll get more misses than hits, but you'll never find the next great thing if you keep bringing back the likes of Hulkenbergs and Magnussens. Drugovich needs to be racing. Liam Lawson needs to be driving.
HAAS is performing now, exactly because they have an experienced lineup than can give good feedback. We saw how well rookies handle a shit car. They have nothing to compare with. Same happened with Russel and later Zhou at Sauber. The back of the grid is too comptetitive, and too much money on the line, for the teams to bet on rookies. If F1 starts paying teams to take on rookies, this might change, but if not, nobody is gonna bet on the like sof drugo.
Mercedes is forgetting the key principle of HAVING A GOOD CAR. Even if they had THE Verstappen, he wouldn't be winning championships in the W13/14/15. And he would be trying to find the better team to pivot to. They need to focus on the CAR, something they are failing quite badly at.
From what I've seen of the lad so far in F2, I fear having him in F1 in 2025 would be bad for him.
Would be crazy if Red Bull somehow snatch Antonelli away from Merc
"The shock departure was not anticipated by Mercedes" - that would be a very poor decision if it were true. Succession plans should be in place for all major staff
he has potential but not sure if he's ready yet he needs another year in F2
It seems somewhat premature but on the other hand if they go for Max (very unlikely) or Carlos, they would never sign for less than 3/4 years and that would leave Antonelli waiting forever on a lesser team. There's always George's seat but it's not likely he'll leave the team anytime soon.
Except that 3 years is not forever. It's the minimal time you need to sufficiently mature as an F1 driver. You saw it with Max, you saw it with George, and we're seeing it now with Oscar.
@@Drrolfski But when you think Mercedes is considering promoting Antonelli already in 2025...
@@soundscape26 ..which what they need to do if they want him to be a consistent top-level driver by 2028.
What does it mean at 6:17 "...after Prema made a big step forward with its cars..."? Since all F2 cars are the same, does this mean car-setups like wing angle, ride height, suspension settings, etc?
Yes. Also information and skills. Prema its the oldest team and have the best employees.
Think it's insane to think Max would leave RB, the current best team, for what is now a midfield team, Mercedes. I highly doubt the Horner situation is as problematic as people paint it out to be and beyond a conversation or a meeting about it, I imagine it barely has any impact on his time at RB.
Also would be difficult to imagine that a top team like Merc would sign a rookie a few years ago, but they're not really a top team anymore so there is no real need for Antonelli to instantly be competitive as they won't be fighting for a WCC, so it's a good time for him to come into the team and be setup for '26 in the hopes they'll be competitive again.
If Vettel went to Mercedes from the best team, he could have retired with 11 titles instead of 4. Fortune changes quickly in this sport.
I dont see Antonelli joining Mercedes as he lacks experience in F1, but I do see him replacing Sargeant in Williams. Albon is crashing all the time and Carlos might replace Checo at RB.
funny how thet are not backing Schumi....when they(Toto) criticised Guenther's decision to remove him
lol, russell going to love that after toto made him sit in a Williams for 3 years before he was 'ready' for a Mercedes seat (which is the correct approach)
never in my life did i think id see myself in an official "The Race" youtube video.... 6:45 just in the background :))
Idk why people are saying they should go for a more proven driver.
Mercedes will NOT be fighting for championships in 2025 and they know it, why send Antonelli to williams or wait for a season until he wins F2 if they can simply take him now and use 2025 as a guarantee he'll hit the ground running in 26?
Ah, to see the look on Toto's face when this backfires 😁
Wolff's obsession with MV is driving all this nonsense. This Antonelli lad is nowhere near ready and has achieved almost nothing because he's only just out of short trousers.....and what a kick in the nuts for Russell. Merc obviously don't rate him, despite Russell handing Hamilton's arse back to him most weekends. Merc delayed a year too long bringing him over for Williams (yeah, understood Hamilton blocked the move) but it's been wasted year after waster year for Russell since joining F1. He needs to leave for Aston or RB, if it comes up, which of course, it won't.
I am waiting for Antonelli to compete at the European tracks before judging his performances. So far he has done decently, being quite on par with Bearman.
He is much more familiar with the European tracks so think he can truly prove himself then.
Esteban for Merc and Antonelli for Williams in 2025.
If Red Bull doesn’t sign Sainz than it would be a shame. Sainz at the lower half of the grid would be a shame of his talent and his intellect.
I don't get the hype personally, yeah he's good but he ain't really shown much in F2 so far, only 2 races in though, but it all just feels way too premature, as if they're desperate to get a Verstappen to solve all their problems, overlooking he ain't actually a Verstappen
Antonelli needs more time in F2
I think people oversee the actual f2 contenders that are very good drivers, Maloney and Aron are fast and up to now decently consistent
Would make no sense. Alexander Albon would be next in line. And the new Rookie *minimal* 1 year at team Williams.
General complain is that F2 talent gets barley adopted in F1 by midfield teams for years.
Albon just isn't good enough. he's 28 too. I mean he would of showed it by now if he was good enough.
This should be fun.
Toto should wait until 2026 and allow Kimi to prove he's really worth the hype by being a serious contender in F2 (which he isn't right now).
Antonelli still looks like he's 12.
I feel old.
What place in F2 Antonelli should be enough to get superlicence?
I asked myself the same question and googled it.
He already has the points required. Which i find really weird.
7:25 Russell is the best meme😂😂😂
Sainz to Mercedes.
Antonelli to Williams to replace Sargent.
I feel like Russel would be pissed since he had to wait for years before getting the Merc drive
There will never be another Max Verstappen, just bring the money and get the original.
People though Schumacher's records would never be beat or matched then along came Lewis Hamilton. There will always be someone better, it's simply a matter of time.
@@kengxiexactly, it might take years but there always someone better out there
There will never be another Ayrton Senna. There will never be another Michael Schumacher. There will never be another Lewis Hamilton. There is always the next great thing.
Better than Max? Unlikely. He’s probably the best driver to have ever driven in F1
I think the big thing not mentioned is that Merc clearly rate Russell not only as a team leader but good enough to be defacto no 1. They'll take someone better but only if they are clearly good drivers
Many seem to forget that Verstappen was 16 when he took the wheel as a rookie at toro Rosso; he put in impressive performances sure, and there were instances where his lack of experience showed, but really his driver style has always been aggressive and he’s always taken risks (lesser so now he’s in a rocket ship). I never understood why they created a minimum age for f1 license, when the driver that caused them to change the rules has proven to be one of the most talented drivers of all time. You would think they want more teenagers to get thrown into the fire to prove if they can hang, but instead here we are contemplating if 18yr olds and sometimes early 20yr olds can do it, in-spite of verstappen.
Just a reminder Max drove cars only for one year before F1. I expect Max to be just a once in my lifetime talent. He's a highly polished version of Schumacher and stronger more calm character than Senna.
Just wipe the corner of your mouth. It’s dribbling.
It does a driver the world of good to spend their first year in a lower-grid team where there's far less pressure to succeed. People seem to forget that Verstappen drove for Toro Rosso/RB for the whole of 2015 before being promoted in 2016 after 5 races.
Antonelli should be a Williams driver next year on behalf of Mercedes. Alonso would probably take a 1 year Mercedes seat as he's unsure how long he's going to continue. And if he does a number on Russell then there may be the possibility to stay beyond, instead of George (who I've noticed a lot of people don't like for some reason).
Tbh the biggest problem in this is for Antonelli himself, he's going to be constantly compared to Max and he'll have to overcome this. If he doesn't pan out Mercedes can always sign someone else good as it's a highly coveted seat anyway.
1:18 looks like Senna
This is a good criticism of that former Alpine CEO not wanting to put a rookie Piastri in their car then, they are not and won't be title contenders unless they get the new regulations right, which I doubt
I am just wondering, what happened to Schumacher? Wasn't he a Mercedes reserve driver and first in line?
He had his shot and was rather underwhelming, don't think he'll get another go
I am just surprised that there is no more any info about him
@@_rakkimhe races for alpine
Reserve driver yes, being first in line for a permanent seat no.
Why don't they give mick the seat for a season, or was bringing him in just a marketing stunt?
In my opinion he is the best option as well. Sainz wouldn't want to be there for only 1 year. Between Alonso and Mick, Mick knows the team and the car better than Fernando. Fernando wouldn't need much time because of his experience, but why then keeping Mick if this is nearly the ideal scenario for him. Toto seems too obsessed with the possibility of losing Antonelli to another team. If Mick gets destroyed by George at the latter part of the season I doubt he would cause problems if he loses the seat for 2026 again. Sebastian surely is advocating for Mick as well.
@@watchnocatch171 exactly, Mick already has F1 experience & won't push George much, plus firing him would be relatively easy
The kid literally looks like a kid.... Idk, it seems like a crazy gamble indeed, far more options for quick adaptation time and high level performance. But... Let's live to see
I'm old enough to remember when Jan Magnussen was 'the next Senna'. One race with McLaren and a season and a half struggling at Stewart later and he was gone.
Are you telling me this guy isn't the new Verstappen?!? poppycock!
Jan Magnussen didnt win 7 championships in a row. With 17 years old.
Antonelli did.
Whoever say that Senna stuff. Dont look data results.
Toto Wolf does. (Also Helmut Marko)
@@RoyMatzem dude. Stroll did too. let's take it down a little shall we.
@@Juventinos Huh... No? Stroll didnt won 7 championships in a row.
He only won 3. I mean Not bad, definitly F1 career. but not even close as what Antonelli did.
I believe Antonelli is possess a natural talent which you cannot teach to someone. This guy is special imo and will deliver for merc.
So I believe it is time to promote him to merc seat in 2025.
They won't put a rookie in a merc. Like Russell, he'll be put into another team, probably replace sergeant before replacing hamilton.
Every driver in f1 were in prior categories. Didn't mean they got into a top team straight away.
Carlos Sainz must be pissing his pants at the minute. It’s so obvious how good he is, he’s got a Ferrari to thrash the living shit out of for a whole season and not need to care about whether he trashes it or not.
The problem for Antonelli is that he is going to drive a decent w16/ then immediately into a new aero/ engine regs car. And from what the teams are saying the 2026 regs are terrible. So even if he is super talented, it will be hard to show
Assuming Max’s move to Mercedes has really slim chance to happen, probably best thing to do here is sign Alonso for a couple years for Lewis’s seat, and give this time to Kimi to train in Logan’s seat in Willams. By the time Fernando decides to retire, Kimi would definitely be ready
Mercedes could do shock chance for Antonelli to drive an actual race like Bearman.
Lets wait and see how it will go, though the max comparison won't help the young lad!!
It's amazing the he qualifies for a super licence despite not even racing in F3. Putting him in F1 in 2025 is madness imo.
I don’t think he will be in the car next year. It seems really quick and Wolff doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who rushes decisions.
What’s Toto keep Mick at Mercedes for then 😅… there’s even no whispers of him replacing Logan at Williams… damn
Independent teams serving others is a past thing, & Williams has priorities elsewhere.
Besides, they wouldn't really even benefit from taking a temporary rookie, especially if his minimal single-seater experience caused him to excessively hold the team back.
Even if they let Sargeant go, they'd more likely offer someone with vast F1 racing experience, like Bottas, if his time at Team Hinwill ends.
Continuing in F2 for a second year (assuming he doesn't win the championship) in any case would be the wisest move rather than unnecessarily rushing things & risking unintended consequences caused by not being wholly ready mentally, so he shouldn't be in any 2025 considerations in the first place.
He has plenty of time to race in F1 anyway, even if that doesn't happen next year, so rushing with things is pointless.
However, I agree that the fact next season will have entirely stable technical regs & Mercedes is unlikely to compete for the championship minimizes the risks involved with effectively having a learning season (even though drivers normally shouldn't go to the highest level to 'learn' anymore, but only when wholly ready), while a team lower down the field would definitely get inconvenienced by such a scenario against closest rivals with a wholly stable driver pairing.
As a side note, while 18 is the minimum age limit for obtaining a super license & thus racing in F1, practice session running is okay even without a valid super license since many drivers have done so before they eventually became eligible for one.
This would be an amazing situation
Vesti is their best option. Atleast give him the seat while you let the "super" prospects mature a bit in F2.
This is daft. He's 17. It's such an extrapolation from teenage prodigy to F1 World Champion. Verstappen became F1 World Champion in his 7th season in F1. But then maybe that's a deliberate way to manage expectations in the short to medium term when the cars aren't super competitive.
I guess my concern for Mercedes is that most strong teams (regardless of what they say outwardly) have a number one and a number two driver. George Russel has been the heir apparent for quite a long time cutting his teeth with Williams as a back marker and has been consistently showing himself to be the quicker Mercedes driver over the last two years. If he has done all this work over the years with Williams and as Hamilton's understudy.... and then sees Mercedes promote Antonelli directly into their top car rather than moving him into the Williams car and perhaps bringing Alex Albon into the top car.... I would see that as a signal that the team is putting their future in Antonelli's hands and that could destabilize the team from George's side of the garage.
George Russell does not have the personality to play the team game if he thinks he's getting the slower strategy.
Seems to me that moving Antonelli into the Williams for development and moving Alex Albon into the factory car makes more sense.
I think it would be crazy and wrong to replace Hamilton with Antonelli. The F1 driver market is so congested with drivers on the sidelines made worse by the fact that there are currently six drivers who lost their seats in F1 only to get back in after a season or two out of F1. Also it does a disservice to drivers who deserve better drives. Lastly, the road to F1 has become so compressed. Drivers used to have a four seasons under their belt in lower formulas before opportunities in F1 became available. Now, it's one or two seasons. No wonder there are so many drivers waiting for F1 rides that'll never happen. Personally, I'd put Sainz in at Mercedes to test Russell. It would be a good litmus test to see which is the better driver before they put someone like Antonelli in a top seat.
Question is; does he have ice running through his veins like a Piastri. That kid actually is too cool for school. F1's future is bright with all these young prodigies, however they make me appreciate Alonso all the more...the last of the v10 class.
stroll (rolling)😅
don't think he ready, and George needs another strong driver next to him. problem with George is that he always trying to alter the strategy in each race and man will he ever take responsibility whenever he does a bad move on the trrack...
As much as I would welcome new talent, the F1 fan in me pushes for a big name switch rather than a rookie. Tbh I'd love if they go for Huulkenberg( yeah I'm delusional)
Would make sense. They'll be able to deflect their lack of podiums onto Hulk's curse rather than honestly acknowledging the team is sub-par.
you're not. hulkenberg is so underrated. the fact that people say he's cursed just shows how much he was able to perform in subpar machinery that he was on the verge of achieving podiums more than once
What, no. Merc should hire Sainz while developing Antonelli. He is way too raw and immature still.
Poor Mick
I think all this hype is hilarious. Max was such a huge force everyone thinks they know who the next Max is going to be. Bearman has beat Kimi every time they've raced so far. Don't get me wrong, he could have what it takes, but how many other drivers have we seen with the same promise only to have them flounder in F1. Please just calm the heck down and stop overhyping these teenagers. You're just throwing more pressure on these kids. I'll reserve judgement until he's actually in an F1 qualifying. There's a huge difference between junior categories and real F1.
He hasn't even won an F2 race yet, what makes him such a huge star?
Antonelli has been so hyped but so far not delivered. Quite funny as the biggest hypeman of them all for Kimi is Toto...and now he claims he's not hyping him. Lol
It’s better to take a chance with hulk/ tsunoda for a year while you give Kimi more time to learn and improve and integrate more with the Mercedes f1 team as their third driver.
I think the best route would be to go for Fernando for a year, maybe two (maybe even Sainz) and have Kimi drive for Williams for a bit. They'd be happy to have him replace Sargent surely?
They shouldn't get a rookie on until they get their car right so I think vettel or alonso will be good for them (yes I know they ain't making decisions by checking my comment)
Meanwhile Georgie is like uh I'm right here. Sorry boy, Antonelli is being fast tracked to be the #1 because you're not it.
Imagine if RB didn't have just a second team for rookies in the same league...
There's no way they move him up to Mercedes without at least a year at Williams or something first.
Question: Antonelli should have 37 super license points (12 for winning F4 in 2022 and 25 for winning FRECA in 2023). What will happen if he doesn't finish in the top 10 in F2 and scores no super license points in 2024? The Race seems to assume he already has the 40 points to drive in F1. Is it the case?
I would put him in the team knowing FULL WELL its a 3 to 5 year project. Especially when Merc might not be competitive next season. Atleast he gets a season to get used to F-1.
Have always wondered what if Hamilton got to drive in 2006 (a year earlier). Even he was not consistent by 2011 - 2012
The fact that Mercedes is even considering doing that shows a lot as far as how desperate Mercedes is...
Can't they send him to Williams to replace Sargeant? Even Max was sent at Toro Rosso first. Even Charles was sent to Sauber?
Is Mercedes really that weak politically?
At this point I'm convinced no matter how good Antonelli is, Toto is just so salty about missing Verstappen he's gonna do his own version of it regardless.
"Mercedes are being very carful not to talk about Antonelli and pile pressure on his shoulders...so we will do it instead"