Mercedes has scheduled a two-day test for their highly rated junior driver in Austria, Kimi Antonelli, beginning April 16th, during which he will drive the 2021 Mercedes W12. The acclimatization test will be the 17-year-old’s first of several planned F1 appearances this year as Mercedes prepares him for a future promotion to F1, in addition to his duties in the Formula 2 championship with Prema Racing.
Italian racing driver Antonelli is being considered for promotion to F1 based on his performance this year, with Mercedes having the vacant seat of Lewis Hamilton to fill for the 2025 season and beyond. It might potentially try to seat the Italian with a customer team or give him a second season in F2, having graduated to the series directly from the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine and skipping Formula 3.
Following a challenging weekend for Prema in Bahrain, Antonelli moved up to ninth place in the standings in Melbourne with a fourth-place finish in the feature race after starting second on the grid. The 17-year-old Antonelli’s teammate Oliver Bearman won his first point for Ferrari in Jeddah, following a highly publicized F1 debut. F2 does not race again until the Imola round in May, giving Antonelli time to complete F1 testing. Zane Maloney, a Rodin driver, and Sauber junior, leads the title after three rounds, ahead of Paul Aron and Dennis Hauger.
Commenting on the empty Mercedes seat for 2025, team principal Toto Wolff stated that he would take his time making a decision, which would be influenced in part by Max Verstappen’s availability. There are a few options that are really interesting for us, from the very young super talent to someone of the other ones, who are very experienced, Wolff told Fox Sports Australia in Melbourne. That’s not going to happen in the next few weeks or months. I want to continue to monitor the market. It depends on what Max does, he added.
F1 can test prior car standards with 2022-spec technology from this year, which is more similar to the current crop of cars. That means Antonelli will be able to sample Mercedes’ 2022 W13 at future tests.
Meanwhile, Liberty Media, the owner of Formula One, has bought MotoGP for £3.6 billion. The US media corporation, which acquired F1 in 2017, has purchased MotoGP from Dorna Sports, a Spanish firm that has owned the motorcycle championship since 1992. Liberty will purchase around 86% of Dorna, with Dorna’s management maintaining the remainder of the firm.
