Mercedes Junior Team prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli has once again impressed, despite all of the expectations around him. The freshly crowned FRECA champion would have been a perfect fit for a step up to FIA Formula 3, as most drivers in his place would’ve done. However, Mercedes has decided that the Italian driver will jump to FIA Formula 2. Feeder Series talked to Mercedes Junior Team co-manager Stéphane Guérin to understand why this decision was made.

By Perceval Wolff

Many junior formulae followers were surprised by Mercedes’ initial choice to put Antonelli in the Formula Regional Championship by Alpine rather than F3. Considering his level of success in the national Formula 4 series, with championship titles in ADAC and Italian F4 in his maiden full season, the young Italian driver could have been a candidate for F3. However, Mercedes decided to focus on the development of Antonelli as a driver and not rush him directly to F3. Thus, he overcame the FRECA car challenge and triumphed, despite the pressure of being the title favourite in his rookie year. 

So why is Mercedes deciding to rush Antonelli directly to F2 this time? Very few drivers have been promoted to F2 after skipping F3, and the latest examples of Josh Mason or Gianluca Petecof are not very reassuring.

The best moment

Since 2022, Antonelli has entered 81 races, winning 36 of them and clinching 53 podiums on his way to winning the ADAC F4, Italian F4, Formula Regional Middle East and FRECA titles. This year in FRECA, the Italian has never finished a race lower than sixth, excluding his mechanical failure at Imola and his post-race penalty at Monza, where he had initially won the race.

Since a young age, Antonelli has raced with enormous expectations around him and has constantly delivered with multiple wins and titles. Moreover, he has proven his very quick capacity for adaptation to any sort of car. Despite missing the majority of the 2022 FRECA post-season testing because of an injury, the Mercedes protégé still had a stellar Formula Regional debut in 2023. And besides single-seaters, Antonelli has also tasted success in GT3 cars in the Italian GT Championship for his maiden round in “roof cars”.

If there are some drivers capable of jumping to F2 straight from FRECA, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is probably the most capable of them.

Moreover, for the first time since 2018, F2 will introduce a new car, inspired by Formula 1 new-generation machinery, using ground effect to increase downforce. This will be a major change for all drivers, meaning that “returning drivers will have much less advantage than usual compared to the rookies”, as explained by Mercedes Junior Team co-manager Stéphane Guérin to Feeder Series at Zandvoort during the FRECA round in October. The gap in experience between Antonelli and other drivers will thus be reduced.

A considered decision

As they did last year, Mercedes has made the choice of putting Antonelli in a series where he will learn and progress the most. In F2, Antonelli will learn much more about race and tyre management, pitstops, etc than he would in F3. The Italian driver will get more prepared for F1 by starting in F2 in 2024 rather than doing a year in F3, especially after an F3 season where the number of red flags in qualifications and safety cars during the races has been heavily criticised.

“The decision has been considered for several months already,” revealed Stéphane Guérin to Feeder Series. “There had been several objectives, several targets for Kimi at the start of the year, and he has reached or exceeded them…It was not a decision that we took impulsively. We have been thinking of this for some time because at the end of the day, our objective is to develop Kimi and to help him in fulfilling his potential.”

Of course, Antonelli is not expected to take the title in his rookie year against drivers such as Victor Martins or Ollie Bearman, who have much more experience. “He will not teach other drivers how to drive!” said Guérin with a laugh. “The objective for Kimi will be to learn as much as possible, as quickly as possible.”

It will now be interesting to see what the future holds for Antonelli. Mercedes wants to prepare the Italian driver for F1, and this move of going directly to F2 shows how much the German constructor believes in him. With Lewis Hamilton’s and George Russell’s contracts expiring after 2025, it will be exciting to see where Antonelli will be at that point. Already in F1? Fighting for the F2 title? Out of single-seaters? That’s the glorious uncertainty of a sport that goes so fast.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency