Lewis Hamilton said it yesterday: Antonelli is promising, he is fast, but people must remember that he is only 18 years old and needs experience. The Italian talent of Mercedes made his debut in Formula 1 today at the wheel of the W15, but he ended up in the wall after 10 minutes from the start of the first free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix.
A start with a bang for the young Andrea. After the first laps with Soft tyres to gain confidence with the single-seater, the Mercedes driver began to push harder but, arriving at Alboreto, he lost the rear in the middle of the curve, ending up crashing into the external barriers of the curve that leads onto the straight.
Shortly after the impact, his engineer who is following him in this session opened the radio to check if Antonelli was okay. A few moments later, Toto Wolff’s engineer arrived, with whom he wanted to try to reassure Antonelli after an accident that is part of the learning curve of such a young driver, but which certainly bothered the Bolognese.
Kimi was then taken to the Medical Center of the Autodromo Internazionale di Monza for the usual tests, while the stewards recovered the car and brought it back to the Mercedes garage. The team will have to change the nose – broken in the impact with the barriers – as well as the suspension on the right side of the car.
Mercedes will also have to assess the damage to the floor, because Antonelli had entered the track with the updated one, while Lewis Hamilton was on track with the old one to make comparisons in view of the rest of the weekend.
The team will still be able to do them, because the spare parts are there. Hamilton will go on track with the new one in the afternoon, leaving the old one to George Russell. The British driver, moreover, will regularly return to the wheel of his car during the second free practice session scheduled for this afternoon.
Antonelli will have to put the incident behind him as soon as possible, waiting for Mercedes to announce what now seems obvious: his ownership alongside George Russell in the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship.
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