From Saward's blog: what if Antonelli made his F1 debut already in Monza?

After Hamilton in Mercedes according to Saward

Tomorrow is Saturday Andrea Kimi Antonelli he will be busy with the 2022 Mercedes W13 in Imola for a private test which, as per the regulations, will be carried out with an F1 car that is two seasons old. These F1 'tests' for the Italian driver could be the harbinger of a landing in the Circus destined to materialize also because Mercedes 'needs' a driver after Lewis Hamilton made his arrival at Ferrari official starting from 2025.

The Mercedes academy drivers, or in any case those followed closely by Toto Wolff, first spent some time in Williams to gain experience before joining the official team. It was like this for Valtteri Bottas and George Russell. Andrea Kimi Antonelli should be no exception, but according to the journalist Joe Saward this could happen even before 2025.

In the latest episode of his blog Saward writes that it could be an option for Mercedes to give almost a year and a half of experience to Antonelli before promoting him to Mercedes in 2026. How? Waiting for the Bolognese to turn 18 to obtain the Super License for which Antonelli has already accrued sufficient points thanks to the results in the preparatory series in 2022 and 2023. Antonelli will blow out 18 candles on August 25th when F1 will be busy in Zandvoort and the first race weekend in which he could participate if this was indeed Mercedes' plan supported by Williams would be the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Also according to Saward, the perfect driver to be an 'alternate' in 2025 while waiting for 2025 would be Esteban Ocon, who grew up within the Mercedes academy and is out of contract with Alpine at the end of 2024.