Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
	Antonelli in 2022
Born	25 August 2006 (age 18); Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Parent	Marco Antonelli (father)
FIA Formula 2 Championship career
Debut season	2024
Current team	Prema
Car number	4
Starts	16 (16 entries)
Wins	2
Podiums	3
Poles	0
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	TBD in 2024
Previous series
2023; 2023; 2022; 2022; 2021–2022	FR European; FR Middle East; ADAC F4; F4 UAE; Italian F4
Championship titles
2023; 2023; 2022; 2022	FR European; FR Middle East; ADAC F4; Italian F4
Medal record
Formula 4
Representing Italy
FIA Motorsport Games

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Italian pronunciation: [anˈdrɛːa ˈkiːmi antoˈnɛlli]; born 25 August 2006), also known as Kimi Antonelli, is an Italian racing driver, currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Prema, and is also set to compete for Mercedes F1 from 2025 onwards, replacing Lewis Hamilton.

Born and raised in Bologna, Antonelli is the son of racing driver Marco Antonelli. After a successful karting career—culminating in back-to-back victories at the direct-drive Karting European Championship in 2020 and 2021—Antonelli graduated to junior formulae. He won his first title at the 2022 Italian F4 Championship with Prema, and has since won the ADAC F4 Championship in 2022 and the Formula Regional European Championship in 2023 with Prema, as well as the Formula Regional Middle East Championship in 2023 with Mumbai Falcons. He also won a gold medal at the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games, representing Italy. Antonelli progressed to Formula 2 in 2024, winning multiple races.

A member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2018, Antonelli made his free practice debut in Formula One at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix. He is set to race for Mercedes from 2025 onwards, replacing Lewis Hamilton to partner George Russell.^[1]

Early life

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was born on 25 August 2006 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.^[2] His father Marco is a former racing driver, who is also the owner of the AKM Motorsport outfit that is racing in the Italian F4 Championship.^[3] Antonelli shares his middle name with the first name of Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula One World Champion, which was given by a family friend to his father, who wanted his son to have a foreign name after 'Andrea'.^[4]^[5]^[6] At a young age, Antonelli attended ITCS Gaetano Salvemini in Casalecchio di Reno and learnt to speak fluent English during his travels to races. His father initially wanted him to play football in Italy before entering him into karting as Antonelli showed more passion for motorsport.^[7]

Career

Karting

Antonelli started in karting at the age of seven and has been successful in several categories in the discipline. He has won the Easykart International Grand Final (Easy 60), South Garda Winter Cup,^[8]^[9] WSK Champions Cup,^[10] WSK Super Master Series,^[11] WSK Euro Series,^[12] and was crowned CIK-FIA Karting European Champion twice in a row in 2020 and 2021.^[13]

Formula 4

Italian F4 Championship

2021

In 2021, just three weeks after he turned 15, Antonelli made his single-seater debut in the fifth round of the 2021 Italian F4 Championship, driving for Prema at the Red Bull Ring.^[14]^[15] He got his campaign off to a good start, finishing as the best rookie in his first race and scoring four points across the weekend.^[16] The Italian scored points again at the following round in Mugello, but his breakout weekend would be the final event at the Monza Circuit. Antonelli got second place in race one after a hard battle with championship leader Oliver Bearman and scored two third places to cap off the weekend.^[17]^[18] Overall, Antonelli ended up tenth in the standings despite missing the majority of the season, being just six points behind full-time Prema driver Conrad Laursen, and finished fourth in the rookies' championship with four wins in the category.

2022

In 2022, the Italian remained with Prema to contest the Italian F4 series, partnering Charlie Wurz, Conrad Laursen and Ferrari Academy members James Wharton and Rafael Câmara.^[19] His season started out in disappointing fashion, as Antonelli was forced to retire from the season opener at Imola after a gearbox issue whilst in the lead with five laps left.^[20] He would receive front wing damage after clipping a kerb in Race 2 and was penalised for a collision with teammate Wharton in Race 3, demoting him from fourth to tenth.^[21] The following rounds however would bring success, with two victories at Misano, and triples at Spa-Francorchamps and Vallelunga.^[22]^[23]^[24] A further win in Spielberg and Monza respectively added to Antonelli's championship advantage,^[25]^[26] and he clinched the title by winning Race 1 at Mugello.^[27] He would win the remaining two races of the season, clinching a record thirteen wins during the season.^[28]

Formula 4 UAE Championship

In preparation for his main campaign in 2022, Antonelli took part in part of the Formula 4 UAE Championship. He took third place in the trophy race held in support of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.^[29] In the main championship, he was originally set to only contest round three, but health issues for Rafael Câmara meant Antonelli replaced him in the season opener.^[30] There, Antonelli took three on-the-road victories in a row, but lost the last one due to a penalty.^[31] Accumulating a further podium finish in round 3, Antonelli ended up eighth in the standings despite missing over half of the season.^[32]

ADAC Formula 4 Championship

In 2022, Antonelli raced in ADAC Formula 4 Championship in parallel with his Italian F4 programme. He took two victories in round 1 at Spa-Francorchamps^[33] before completely dominating round 2 at Hockenheim, where he took all possible wins, poles and fastest laps.^[34] At the third round in Zandvoort he took both pole positions and two fastest laps and took two wins in the first two races before missing out on a hat-trick of wins by 0.058 in the reverse grid Race 3 where teammate Conrad Laursen took the victory.^[35] Despite missing the penultimate event at the Lausitzring, the Italian took the championship with one race to spare, having taken victory in the first two races during a weather-affected final round at the Nürburgring.^[36]

Motorsport Games F4 Cup

In October 2022, it was announced Antonelli would represent Team Italy in the F4 Cup discipline of the FIA Motorsport Games.^[37] He ended up winning the qualifying and main race respectively, despite racing with a broken left wrist, owing to a collision near the end of qualifying.^[38] Following the win, Antonelli stated that he "had a lot of pain" and "[drove] not properly".^[39]

Formula Regional Middle East Championship

Antonelli raced in the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited before his main 2023 campaign.^[40] He began the season with a trio of second places in the opening two rounds, which propelled him to the championship lead early on.^[41] He would secure his first Formula Regional wins at the third and fourth rounds in Kuwait and Dubai, extending his lead furthermore.^[42] Antonelli would take the title ahead of PHM Racing's Taylor Barnard with one race to go.^[43]

Formula Regional European Championship

Antonelli was confirmed to be moving into the Formula Regional European Championship, remaining with Prema for the 2023 season alongside teammates Lorenzo Fluxá and Formula 4 rival Rafael Câmara.^[44] Antonelli later expressed that he was still "lacking a bit of experience, so going to F3 is a bit early for me".^[45] His season started with a second place in Imola and a pair of runner-up positions in Barcelona.^[46]^[47] A gear selection issue compromised him of a maiden FRECA win in Hungary,^[48] before finally clinching victory in the second race at Spa-Francorchamps marred by the death of Dilano van 't Hoff in a fatal accident.^[49]

Wins in Paul Ricard and Mugello followed, putting him as the championship leader with breathing room to rival Martinius Stenshorne.^[50]^[51] The seventh round in Austria saw him earn a third place podium, before winning back-to-back races in Monza, although a penalty for an illegal use of the push-to-pass system saw him lose the win in Race 1.^[52]^[53] After winning the second race at the Zandvoort round Antonelli mathematically clinched the championship becoming the third Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine champion after Grégoire Saucy and Dino Beganovic.^[54]^[55] Antonelli later dedicated his title to the late Van 't Hoff.^[56] He secured five wins, a further six podiums and finished 39 points ahead of rival Stenshorne.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

Antonelli bypassed Formula 3 and jumped directly to Formula 2 in 2024, with Prema Racing alongside Ferrari Academy driver Oliver Bearman.^[57] Ahead of the season, Antonelli remarked that he "did not want to set expectations" despite early rumours of a Formula One seat in 2025 for the Italian.^[58] A difficult opening Bahrain round saw Antonelli claim a sole point from tenth place in the feature race, owing to a poor qualifying and the lack of competitiveness in his Prema.^[59] He secured a pair of sixth place finishes in Jeddah.^[60] A sterling lap saw him second in qualifying at Melbourne,^[61] but a spin whilst trying to make up places saw him into the gravel during the sprint race.^[62] In the feature race, he battled for the lead with Dennis Hauger, but was jumped by Isack Hadjar in the pit stops after the former crashed. Antonelli was later passed by two other drivers to end in fourth.^[63] Antonelli had a quiet weekend in Imola and Monaco, but finished fourth again in the feature race in Italy and the sprint race at Monte Carlo,^[64]^[65] ending that week with a seventh-place finish in the feature race.^[66]

After placing below points in the two rounds in Spain and Austria compounded by bad luck, Antonelli qualified tenth in the round at Silverstone, putting him on pole for the sprint race.^[67] Despite three safety cars and a red flag. Antonelli would go on to win the wet conditions, taking his first podium and win in Formula 2.^[68]^[69]^[70] His feature race would deliver contrasting fortunes, as he was punted into a spin at Turn 3 by Kush Maini on the opening lap and was forced to retire.^[71] In Budapest, An unsuccessful gamble on softer tyres saw him to the lead of the sprint race early on, but locked up and was forced to pit.^[72] However the next day, Antonelli took his first feature race win from seventh after a well-timed safety car allowed him to pit for fresh tyres.^[73]^[74] He qualified fifth in Spa-Francorchamps,^[75] and after a daring pass on Colapinto at Eau Rouge, he would finish sixth, but was not awarded points as the race was cut short due to inclement weather.^[76] A slow pit stop in the feature race on the alternate strategy saw Antonelli only finish ninth, and his woes were further compounded with a ten-place grid penalty for usage of dry ice for the next round.^[77]^[78]

In Monza, Antonelli qualified sixth.^[79] His sprint race was compounded with a collision at the start and was forced to pit for repairs,^[80] but had a better feature race, placing fourth despite tough battles with teammate Bearman.^[81] Baku saw Antonelli return to the front row and missing a maiden pole by 17 hundredths.^[82] Finishing seventh in a solid sprint race, Antonelli lost out to Victor Martins early on in the feature race, but jumped him back in the pits.^[83] He would again drop behind Martins after contact with Zane Maloney that left him with damage, but ultimately secured a third podium finish.^[84]

Formula One

In 2019, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team announced that Antonelli had joined the Mercedes Junior Team.^[85] On 17 April 2024, Antonelli had his first test with the team by driving the Mercedes W12 at the Red Bull Ring.^[86]^[87] He had further tests two weeks later at Imola with the W13, covering around 500 kilometres.^[88] Due to poor performances by Logan Sargeant in Williams and a new rule that re-allowed drivers to participate in the sport at the minimum age of 17, Antonelli was rumoured to replace him midway through the 2024 season; Mercedes denied such an early move and instead recommended Mick Schumacher take the seat.^[89]^[90]^[91] Antonelli made his Grand Prix weekend debut at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, taking part in the first free practice session in George Russell's car.^[92] However, Antonelli spun at the Parabolica corner ten minutes into the session, crashing into the wall and ending his session prematurely.^[93] Antonelli again competed with Mercedes during free practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, this time taking the car of Lewis Hamilton.^[94] He finished in 12th, but was once again forced to end his session prematurely after running over a piece of debris.^[95]^[96]

Mercedes (2025)

Antonelli is due to race at Mercedes for the 2025 Formula One World Championship alongside Russell, replacing the Ferrari-bound Hamilton.^[1] He will become the first Italian driver in Formula One since Antonio Giovinazzi raced full time in the 2021 season.^[97]