Mercedes Rookie Antonelli Reflects on Bold Monza Debut Crash

Oct.14 - Kimi Antonelli admits his 2025 teammate, George Russell, "wasn't too happy" with the 18-year-old rookie's first official Formula 1 session at Monza.

Antonelli was in Russell's Mercedes in FP1 at his home Italian GP at the end of August - for just two laps.

"That first lap was a unique emotion with all those people in the stands," the teenager, who is replacing Lewis Hamilton next year, said at Il Festival dello Sport.

"Now I will have two more opportunities in Mexico and Abu Dhabi."

The interviewer reminded Antonelli that he heavily crashed the car that Russell needed to drive for the remainder of the race weekend.

"He wasn't very happy," Antonelli smiled. "I was a bit too bold, but before going off at the Parabolica I was going fast.

"I have a good relationship with George. He hasn't given me much advice, but for now everything is fine. But next year I want to beat him."

Antonelli admits that as recently as just a few months ago, team boss and mentor Toto Wolff was actually not convinced he was ready to debut at such a young age.

"During the TPC (test of previous car) 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 I struggled with the most during testing was race pace," Antonelli admitted. "But in the last two days of testing at Spa, I improved my race pace considerably and that pushed Mercedes to sign me.

"I feel ready for F1," he insists. "In terms of speed, I think it won't be a problem. The only thing that will have to be worked on a lot is how to manage the weekend in the best possible way and also learning all the procedures."

To help with that, Antonelli says Mercedes is delivering him a small home simulator equipped with a real 2025 steering wheel. "What I will also have to get used to is hearing all the engineers in my ears, because I'm not someone who speaks much," he smiled.

Antonelli says he is humbled by how much faith is being placed in him by Toto Wolff.

"I signed with the Academy in Monaco 2018," he revealed. "Toto invited me and my father but he had already contacted me the year before. At first we couldn't believe it. It wasn't normal.

"I have a great relationship with him - he's like a second father to me. He even scolded me recently because I was a bit naughty. But I'm very happy to be with him."

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