by VALERIO BARRETTA
Antonelli, first hard impact with F1
Andrea Kimi’s debut Antonelli in Formula 1 it was not what the 18-year-old expected. After about ten minutes of FP1 in Monza, in fact, the Bolognese driver hit the wall at Alboreto: a forgivable youthful mistake, from which the future Mercedes driver will have to learn quickly, because Formula 1 is relentless even with those who win championships in the preparatory categories (the most recent example is Mick Schumacher), let alone with an Antonelli who will arrive in 2025 with “only” one season of experience in Formula 2.
Compared to Antonelli, Lando followed a more linear path towards F1 Norris (British F3 champion in 2017, runner-up in F2 in 2018), who nevertheless had a hard impact with the top category of motorsport: despite immediately showing his talent, the #4 finished his first season with about half the points of the much more experienced Carlos Sainz, by whom he was also beaten in 2020. Antonelli will find himself in the same situation next year with George Russell: Norris therefore wanted to warn him about the learning curve, which will be steep, and will also have to be fast.
Norris’s words
“He will go to Formula 1 because he is probably good enough to go there, and Toto Wolff believes a lot in him.“, these are the words of the British. “He has shown a lot in the youth categories, and moving from F4 to F2 is a big leap.”.
“You will face a steep learning curve, probably steeper than most of us have ever had.which always brings pressure. If he can handle the situation well, I’m sure that, learning from one of the best like George, he will be able to keep up”.
#Norris #Warns #Antonelli #Learning #Curve #Steep
