Andrea Kimi Antonelli will make his debut on the Mercedes W15 in FP1 of the Italian GP. Everything is now ready and only the reservations need to be resolved with official announcements. The young driver from Bologna, who will come of age on Sunday at the Dutch GP, after a series of private preparatory tests with the W13 and W14, will officially enter the world of F1 in Monza in front of the Italian public driving the black and silver arrow in the first free practice session on Friday.
And in the scenario of the “temple of speed”, the Star should also make official the role of the Emilian Romagnolo as a regular driver in 2025 alongside George Russell. Kimi will drive the W15 that will be vacated by Lewis Hamilton in what will be in all respects a… handover, given that the Englishman has chosen to go to Ferrari to end his career.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Antonelli will begin his adventure in the official Mercedes team, finding in the box Peter Bonnington, the engineer who for years has followed Lewis. “Bono” had the opportunity to become familiar with the boy during the test that Kimi had carried out at Spa-Francorchamps immediately after the Belgian GP.
On that occasion, several members of the team had stopped in the Ardennes, before starting their holidays, to follow the work carried out by the young Italian, alongside the engineer Riccardo Musconi who has always taken care of the training programme wanted by Toto Wolff.
The Italian, already busy working on the Brackley simulator, has taken the seat of the W15 and is ready for his first public outing in a single-seater from the Star. The FIA requires teams to use rookies in at least two FP1s during a championship: excluding street circuits and races with the Sprint format in which only one free practice session remains, only Mexico City and Abu Dhabi remain. It cannot be ruled out a priori that Mercedes may decide to expand Antonelli’s possible participations to three to give the Italian more opportunities to acclimatise in the Circus.
It remains to be seen what Hamilton’s reaction will be, especially now that he has in his hands a W15 that has become a winner…
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