Antonelli completes test running with Mercedes at Jerez

Ahead of his debut season with Mercedes, Italian sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli has completed another test run with the eight-time champion outfit at Jerez.

Mercedes announced on the eve of the Italian Grand Prix that their F2 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli will replace Lewis Hamilton, who had confirmed his departure from the team back in February.

The Bologna-born driver, who competed in Formula 2 last season, has completed several test outings with Mercedes since the Brackley-based outfit announced his promotion. He first carried out running with the 2021 F1 Mercedes at the Red Bull Ring before racking up mileage with the 2022 F1 Mercedes in Imola and in Silverstone.

Antonelli then went on to gain experience at Spa in August before completing his first running on a race weekend. The 18-year-old took over George Russell’s car in the opening practice session at the Italian Grand Prix, but a mistake on his second flying lap saw him crash into the barriers at the Parabolica corner.

He then travelled to Mexico, where he drove Lewis Hamilton’s car in FP1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where he admittedly took a calmer approach to avoid any mistake.

The Mercedes junior has now completed another test run, this time at Jerez, racking up laps in the 2021 F1 Mercedes on Wednesday in nice weather conditions.

While Mercedes’ choice to use the four-year-old car might appear surprising, it is down to the rule tweak for this season. Teams are entitled to use two-year-old F1 cars under the rules that are referred to as Testing of Previous Cars. Previously, they did not need to adhere to any restrictions.

However, with several teams having completed extensive running with relatively fresh cars, the FIA stepped in to tweak the rules. Most notably, Red Bull ran with Ma Verstappen behind the wheel in Imola last year after the Milton Keynes-based outfit encountered technical issues with its car and wanted to find remedy for its problems.

The current rules state that teams are allowed to complete a maximum of 1000kms. However, the 2021 F1 Mercedes falls into the category of the historic cars, and the Testing of Historic Cars permit unrestricted running. Mercedes’ choice indicate that the German-British team intends to use its allocation with the two-year-old car later during the season, and that is why Antonelli run with the older F1 machine at Jerez.

Article 10.2 of the Sporting Regulation stated: “Each Competitor may complete a maximum of twenty (20) days of TPC in each calendar
year.

“Each Competitor may complete a maximum of one thousand (1000) kilometres of TPC in each calendar year using drivers entered in the Championship, or which they intend to enter in the Championship, such distance being accumulated over a maximum of four (4) of the days allowed under Article 10.2f.

“If a driver is replaced at any time during the Championship their replacement will be deemed to be the original driver for the purposes of calculating TPC mileage.”