Andrea Kimi Antonelli

2025 australian grand prix/2025 F1 season/Andrea Kimi Antonelli/Formula 1/Mercedes

Despite the majority having previous Formula 1 experience, history will reflect that six rookies started the 2025 season at the Australian Grand Prix – and it was a chastening experience for all but one of them.

While the changeable conditions saw four crash out, plus one endure a tough weekend and finish last, Andrea Kimi Antonelli gave a glimpse of his huge potential by taking fifth place for Mercedes.

Motorsport.com looked at how the sextet fared around Albert Park on what was a memorable start to the campaign.

High-five for Antonelli

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Whether you see Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s direct replacement or not, he stood out head and shoulders above the other five rookies with a fine performance.

Starting down in 16th, the 18-year-old showed maturity to move up through the pack, making notable overtakes – including twice passing Nico Hulkenberg in near carbon copy moves, having let the experienced Sauber man back through after a spin.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called the drive “mega” as Antonelli crossed the line fourth but was ultimately dropped to fifth following a five-second penalty for an unsafe pitstop release into the path of Hulkenberg.

“I think today we got all the possible worst conditions for a first race,” he said. “We got wet, slicks on damp, slicks on wet, and then back to wet. So definitely a really, really eventful race, but I’m really happy how it was managed from my side and from the team.

“Of course, I did a couple of mistakes, especially the spin, but the conditions were super, super tricky. Also those white lines were a killer.

“The team really helped me throughout the whole race and made all the right calls, and [I] definitely cannot complain about today.”

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Wolff gave a glowing review of Antonelli’s debut display: “He just reeled them in one by one, showed the pace when he had no traffic, and then eventually ended up P4 on the road and P5 from a result, and that’s really impressive.

“Even very good drivers spun or hit the wall, and it’s easier to not finish than to finish. He kept his cool and it was just very impressive to see, and it shows that he has a good future as long as the trajectory keeps being like it is.”

Ollie has to grin and bear it

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

For Oliver Bearman, it could be seen as a positive that the 19-year-old finished the race for Haas, given he had crashed out in free practice one and three – sitting out the second session due to the damage to his car.

He also struggled in wet weather as a stand-in for Haas at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix but brought the car home in Melbourne, even if he was last of the runners to take the chequered flag.

Starting from the pitlane, Bearman was pleased with his performance although he conceded Haas would need to find improvements moving forward.

“It’s an achievement just to finish a race like this because they’re incredibly difficult,” said the British racer.

“Of course, I don’t want to dwell on the past. I want to get rid of it and move on to the next one. I’m not pleased with my mistakes, but to finish the race in a good way on my side gives me confidence going to China.

“This inter tyre is very tough when it starts to rain again and I was happy with my performance and execution, even if as a team we’re still missing pace.

“[It is] incredibly, incredibly tough to drive the car in these conditions. It’s the toughest you’ll find and even if in Brazil I was fighting for the points and now I’m fighting to really catch or stay on the pack, it’s a different type of race compared to the one I was in in Brazil.

“But same push and drive, and I’m glad that I’ve learned from the mistakes I made in Brazil and had a relatively error-free race.”

A-Borted start

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Gabriel Bortoleto outqualified team-mate Hulkenberg, not bad for a man starting his first F1 race to a wizened campaigner of 228 grand prix.

The Brazilian has been batting away questions surrounding remarks from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who labelled the 20-year-old a “B” grade driver.

He ultimately crashed out in the latter stages in Australia but had looked in good shape, all things considered, until that point – although he was hit with a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.

“Obviously not an easy start. I would say it was a good weekend overall for all the learning we got there,” said the back-to-back F3 and F2 champion.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t finish as we expected. Luckily for the team, Nico scored some good points and I’m very happy for them. I’m sorry for my mistake there. I tried to recover a bit what we lost in the safety car and I’m looking forward to China now.

“We take some positives from this weekend. We learn from the negatives, and heads up. It’s just the beginning of a long season.

“I was very close to Nico the whole race on inters. Then we went to pit and then we double-stacked. I lost a lot of time there with the safety car as well, with the unsafe release.”

Aussie curse strikes Doohan

Jack Doohan, Alpine crash

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

Ask most people in the F1 paddock and they will tell you that Jack Doohan was already under pressure before a wheel had been turned this season.

Having raced for Alpine in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of 2024, the Australian came into this year with speculation he was already driving for his seat after Franco Colapinto joined the team as a reserve driver.

Crashing out of his home race on the opening lap will do little to silence those rumours, but the 22-year-old was determined to take positives away from a tough weekend.

“In this sport, things happen very quickly, as we’ve just seen, and the next round is already almost upon us,” he said, already turning an eye to the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend.

“So it was an unfortunate way [to go out], but a lesson is learned. I’ve digested it. There’s a lot of positives that we have to take away from this weekend, and for me they outweigh this negative, and I’m looking forward to bouncing back for next weekend.

“It seemed I lost it on the third to fourth gear upshift. As soon as I went into fourth, I lost the car.

“I think maybe a combination of the white line, but it seems that we had a spike in RPM when I’ve upshifted to fourth so we’re just double-checking to make sure that everything’s behaving itself and maybe a little bit less right foot, a little bit more left, and it won’t happen again.

“So some things that I’m going to need to understand because, for me, that wasn’t out of the normal, but a constant learning process. Unfortunately, this one has big consequences.

“But I’ve definitely learned, and I’m going to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Hamilton hugs for Hadjar

Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Team, Anthony Hamilton

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

For Isack Hadjar, qualifying 11th for his debut race would have been seen as a fine start to life at Racing Bulls.

However, he did not even make the start of the race as the tricky track surface caught him out on the formation lap when a spin ended with the Frenchman breaking his rear wing in the wall.

Visibly upset, the 20-year-old was consoled on his return to the paddock by Anthony Hamilton, father of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

“I’m just embarrassed and sorry for the team,” Hadjar said, his accident having caused an aborted start to the 2025 season.

“I overdid it, I just over-slipped the rears and once I lost the car, I tried to save it but I was just a passenger, it just snapped so fast and I didn’t expect it.

“I’m just mad that these mistakes can happen. Breaking the car so early in the season really breaks my heart. I’m really sorry for the team. I’m missing out on more experience. My first grand prix, missing out on a wet track.”

Asked about Anthony Hamilton’s input, he added: “It means a lot, knowing that he knew where I was, how bad I felt, to go and see me in the worst moment ever.

“I think it’s nice gesture from him. I really appreciate that. [He told me to] just keep my head high and be proud of myself. I did well yesterday. Nice stuff.”

Lowly Lawson

Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

Being across the Red Bull garage from Max Verstappen is a pressured place to be in F1 and Liam Lawson is the latest to try and match the flying Dutchman.

Having been preferred over Yuki Tsunoda to be promoted from Racing Bulls for 2025, Lawson is arguably the furthest away from a rookie having already competed in 11 grand prix before this season.

The New Zealander, though, found his first weekend in the senior Red Bull team to be a difficult one as he started from the pitlane following changes to his rear wing, having only qualified down in 18th.

It was a calculated risk that did not pay off as Lawson found himself running at the back of the field with the Haas duo while Verstappen competed at the business end against the McLarens.

A poor race was summed up with a late crash into the barriers as the rain returned.

“We wanted to take a risk so that was a shared gamble together, but I was just apologising for putting the car on the wall,” Lawson said.

“We were hoping for a majority-wet race and it basically dried up more than we thought, and we struggled a lot with the fronts in the first stint, just overheating.”

Asked what positives he would take from the day, Lawson replied: “Not much honestly, I’m just looking forward to going to China and resetting.”

In this article

Mark Mann-Bryans

Formula 1

Liam Lawson

Jack Doohan

Isack Hadjar

Oliver Bearman

Gabriel Bortoleto

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

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Mercedes petition stewards to overturn penalty which cost Antonelli fourth place · RaceFans

2025 australian grand prix/2025 F1 season/Andrea Kimi Antonelli/Formula 1/Mercedes

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Bahrain International Circuit, 2025 pre-season test

Mercedes have formally petitioned the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix to overturn the penalty they handed to Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The rookie driver finished fourth on the road but received a five-second time penalty which dropped him to fourth place, behind Alexander Albon.

The stewards ruled Mercedes released Antonelli from his pit box unsafely during the race, into the path of Nico Hulkenberg. The Sauber driver “had to brake and take avoiding action,” they noted.

Less than an hour after the end of the race, the stewards confirmed Mercedes had submitted the paperwork requesting them to review the decision. Representative of Mercedes and Sauber have been summoned to a meeting of the stewards which was due to begin at 6:40pm local time.

In line with usual procedures, a hearing will first be held to determine whether Mercedes has presented a “significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned.” If the stewards agree that they have, a second hearing will take place to reconsider the original decision.

Although the Right of Review process only occasionally results in decisions being overturned, one was earlier this weekend in the supporting Formula 3 race. That request was brought by the FIA itself, to correct an error made by the stewards, and led to a driver’s penalty being cancelled.

This article will be updated

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Antonelli regains fourth place after stewards cancel penalty · RaceFans

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has regained fourth place in the Australian Grand Prix after the stewards cancelled his five-second time penalty.

Mercedes formally petitioned the stewards to reconsider their decision to hand him a five-second time penalty for an alleged ‘unsafe release’ incident in the pits.

The team submitted new evidence from the roll hoop mounted camera of Antonelli’s car. The stewards, who had been unable to examine the evidence when they made their original decision, agreed it showed Antonelli had moved into the fast lane of the pits safely.

They therefore cancelled the five-second time penalty which dropped him from fourth place to fifth in the original classification of the race. Alexander Albon, who originally moved up to fourth, therefore falls back to fifth.

The stewards originally ruled Mercedes released Antonelli from his pit box unsafely during the race, into the path of Nico Hulkenberg. The Sauber driver “had to brake and take avoiding action,” they noted.

However less than an hour after the end of the race, the stewards confirmed Mercedes had submitted the paperwork requesting them to review the decision. Representatives of Mercedes and Sauber were summoned to a meeting of the stewards.

“The petitioner provided video from the roll hoop camera which was previously unavailable,” the stewards explained. “This video was relevant and significant in the opinion of the stewards and was unavailable at the time of the original decision (having only been downloaded from the Formula 1 camera post-race).”

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The video proved that although Hulkenberg reacted to Antonelli emerging in front of him, he had enough room to avoid the Mercedes.

“It is clear that car 12 [Antonelli] did not cross into the fast lane until a significant distance down the pit lane and only after the driver checked his mirror to confirm clearance with car 27 [Hulkenberg]. The roll hoop camera shows that he had sufficient room to safely pass the McLaren pits without risk to the McLaren mechanics.”

“Having examined the new video, plus additional video previously not available to the stewards and taken from the helicopter, the stewards decide to reverse the previous decision. As a result the penalty on car 12 in document number 43 is removed and no further action is required.”

This is the second time this weekend the Right of Review has been used to change a decision made by the stewards. The FIA itself requested a review of a decision in a supporting Formula 3 race, which the stewards upheld, leading to another driver’s penalty being cancelled.

This article will be updated

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Tears, tribulations and impressing Toto – F1 rookies round-up

2025 australian grand prix/2025 F1 season/alexander albon/Andrea Kimi Antonelli/carlos sainz jnr/charles leclerc/Driver of the Weekend/Esteban Ocon/Fernando Alonso/Gabriel Bortoleto/George Russell/Isack Hadjar/Jack Doohan/Lance Stroll/Lando Norris/Lewis Hamilton/Liam Lawson/Max Verstappen/Nico Hulkenberg/Oliver Bearman/Oscar Piastri/Pierre Gasly/Yuki Tsunoda

Despite the majority having previous Formula 1 experience, history will reflect that six rookies started the 2025 season at the Australian Grand Prix – and it was a chastening experience for all but one of them.

While the changeable conditions saw four crash out, plus one endured a tough weekend and finished last, Andrea Kimi Antonelli gave a glimpse of his huge potential by taking fifth place for Mercedes.

Autosport looked at how the sextet fared around Albert Park on what was a memorable start to the campaign.

High-five for Antonelli

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Whether you see Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s direct replacement or not, he stood out head and shoulders above the other five rookies with a fine performance.

Starting down in 16th, the 18-year-old showed maturity to move up through the pack, making notable overtakes – including twice passing Nico Hulkenberg in near-carbon copy moves having let the experienced Sauber man back through after a spin.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called the drive “mega” as Antonelli crossed the line fourth but was ultimately dropped to fifth following a five-second penalty for an unsafe pitstop release into the path of Hulkenberg.

“I think today we got all the possible worst conditions for a first race,” he said. “We got wet, slicks on damp, slicks on wet, and then back to wet. So definitely a really, really eventful race but I’m really happy how it was managed from my side and from the team.

“Of course, I did a couple of mistakes, especially the spin, but the conditions were super, super tricky. Also those white lines were a killer.

“The team really helped me throughout the whole race and made all the right calls and definitely cannot complain about today.”

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Wolff gave a glowing review of Antonelli’s debut display: “He just reeled them in one by one, showed the pace when he had no traffic, and then eventually ended up P4 on the road and P5 from a result, and that’s really impressive.

“Even very good drivers spun or hit the wall and it’s easier to not finish than to finish, and he kept his cool and it was just very impressive to see and it shows that he has a good future as long as the trajectory keeps being like it is.”

Ollie has to grin and bear it

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

For Oliver Bearman, it could be seen as a positive that the 19-year-old finished the race for Haas, given he had crashed out in free practice one and three – sitting out the second session due to the damage to his car.

He also struggled in wet weather as a stand-in for Haas at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix but brought the car home in Melbourne, even if he was last of the runners to take the chequered flag.

Starting from the pitlane, Bearman was pleased with his performance although he conceded Haas will need to find improvements moving forward.

“It’s an achievement just to finish a race like this because they’re incredibly difficult,” said the British racer.

“Of course, I don’t want to dwell on the past. I want to get rid of it and move on to the next one. I’m not pleased with my mistakes but to finish the race in a good way on my side gives me confidence going to China.

“This inter tyre is very tough when it starts to rain again and I was happy with my performance and execution, even if as a team we’re still missing pace.

“[It is] incredibly, incredibly tough to drive the car in these conditions. It’s the toughest you’ll find and even if in Brazil I was fighting for the points and now I’m fighting to really catch or stay on the pack, it’s a different type of race compared to the one I was in in Brazil.

“But same push and drive and I’m glad that I’ve learned from the mistakes I made in Brazil and had a relatively error-free race.”

A-Borted start

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Gabriel Bortoleto outqualified team-mate Hulkenberg, not bad for a man starting his first F1 race to a wizened campaigner of 228 grand prix.

The Brazilian has been batting away questions surrounding remarks from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who labelled the 20-year-old a “B” grade driver.

He ultimately crashed out in the latter stages in Australia but had looked in good shape, all things considered, until that point – although he was hit with a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.

“Obviously not an easy start. I would say it was a good weekend overall for all the learning we got there,” said the back-to-back F3 and F2 champion.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t finish as we expected. Luckily for the team, Nico scored some good points and I’m very happy for them. I’m sorry for my mistake there. I tried to recover a bit what we lost in the safety car and I’m looking forward to China now.

“We take some positives from this weekend. We learn from the negatives and heads up. It’s just the beginning of a long season.

“I was very close to Nico the whole race in inters. Then we went to pit and then we double-stacked. I lost a lot of time there with the safety car as well, with the unsafe release.”

Aussie curse strikes Doohan

Jack Doohan, Alpine crash

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

Ask most people in the F1 paddock and they will tell you that Jack Doohan was already under pressure before a wheel had been turned this season.

Having raced for Alpine in the Abu Dhabi GP at the end of 2024, the Australian came into this year with speculation he was already driving for his seat after Franco Colapinto joined the team as a reserve driver.

Crashing out of his home race on the opening lap will do little to silence those rumours but the 22-year-old was determined to take positives away from a tough weekend.

“In this sport, things happen very quickly, as we’ve just seen, and the next round is already almost upon us,” he said, already turning an eye to the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend.

“So it was an unfortunate way [to go out], but a lesson is learned. I’ve digested it. There’s a lot of positives that we have to take away from this weekend and for me, they outweigh this negative and I’m looking forward to bouncing back for next weekend.

“It seemed I lost it on the third to fourth gear upshift. As soon as I went into fourth, I lost the car.

“I think maybe a combination of the white line but it seems that we had a spike in RPM when I’ve upshifted to fourth so we’re just double-checking to make sure that everything’s behaving itself and maybe a little bit less right foot, a little bit more left, and it won’t happen again.

“So some things that I’m going to need to understand because, for me, that wasn’t out of the normal, but a constant learning process. Unfortunately, this one has big consequences.

“But I’ve definitely learned, and I’m going to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Hamilton hugs for Hadjar

Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Team, Anthony Hamilton

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

For Isack Hadjar, qualifying 11th for his debut race would have been seen as a fine start to life at Racing Bulls.

However, he did not even make the start of the race as the tricky track surface caught him out on the formation lap when a spin ended with the Frenchman breaking his rear wing in the wall.

Visibly upset, the 20-year-old was consoled on his return to the paddock by Anthony Hamilton, father of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

“I’m just embarrassed and sorry for the team,” Hadjar said, his accident having caused an aborted start to the 2025 season.

“I overdid it, I just over-slipped the rears and once I lost the car, I tried to save it but I was just a passenger it just snapped so fast and I didn’t expect it.

“I’m just mad that these mistakes can happen. Breaking the car so early in the season really breaks my heart. I’m really sorry for the team. I’m missing out on more experience. My first grand prix, missing out on a wet track.”

Asked about Anthony Hamilton’s input, he added: “It means a lot, knowing that he knew where I was, how bad I felt, to go and see me in the worst moment ever.

“I think it’s nice gesture from him. I really appreciate that. [He told me to] just keep my head high and be proud of myself. I did well yesterday. Nice stuff.”

Lowly Lawson

Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

Being across the Red Bull garage from Max Verstappen is a pressured place to be in F1 and Liam Lawson is the latest to try and match the flying Dutchman.

Having been preferred over Yuki Tsunoda to be promoted from Racing Bulls for 2025, Lawson is arguably the furthest away from a rookie having already competed in 11 grand prix before this season.

The New Zealander, though, found his first weekend in the senior Red Bull team to be a difficult one as he started from the pitlane following changes to his rear wing having only qualified down in 18th.

It was a calculated risk that did not pay off as Lawson found himself running at the back of the field with the Haas duo while Verstappen competed at the business end against the McLarens.

A poor race was summed up with a late crash into the barriers as the rain returned.

“We wanted to take a risk so that was a shared gamble together, but I was just apologising for putting the car on the wall,” Lawson said.

“We were hoping for a majority wet race and it basically dried up more than we thought and we struggled a lot with the fronts in the first stint, just overheating.”

Asked what positives he would take from the day, Lawson replied: “Not much honestly, I’m just looking forward to going to China and resetting.”

In this article

Mark Mann-Bryans

Formula 1

Jack Doohan

Liam Lawson

Isack Hadjar

Oliver Bearman

Gabriel Bortoleto

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

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Vote for your 2025 Australian Grand Prix F1 Driver of the Weekend

Start, Albert Park, 2025

Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Australian Grand Prix weekend?

It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Albert Park.

Driver performance summary

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Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix weekend?

No opinion (0%)
Gabriel Bortoleto (1%)
Nico Hulkenberg (6%)
Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
Alexander Albon (10%)
Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
Isack Hadjar (4%)
Oliver Bearman (0%)
Esteban Ocon (0%)
Pierre Gasly (0%)
Jack Doohan (1%)
Fernando Alonso (0%)
Lance Stroll (1%)
George Russell (2%)
Andrea Kimi Antonelli (19%)
Liam Lawson (0%)
Max Verstappen (8%)
Lewis Hamilton (1%)
Charles Leclerc (0%)
Oscar Piastri (2%)
Lando Norris (42%)

Total Voters: 83

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Move over, Leclerc, Antonelli is already F1’s most exciting driver to watch

on 15 March 2025

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff. The Mercedes partnership is no more, but between them, they’ve made Formula 1 even more interesting in separate single pen strokes.

In Hamilton signing for Ferrari, a pulsating narrative is already well imbued in the 2025 season – especially as he starts off trailing in Australian Grand Prix qualifying against new team-mate Charles Leclerc.

And, by promoting Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton’s replacement, Wolff’s move has delivered a thrilling new F1 element. And it’s one that surely has Leclerc usurped as the most exciting driver to watch based on what Antonelli has produced at Albert Part so far.

Every time F1’s world feed cut to the Italian’s W16 traversing this 3.3-mile blast across all three practice sessions, Antonelli was either sideways on a kerb or running right up to the edge of one and snapping off it.

It’s been a wild start – and a painful one compared to new team-mate George Russell in qualifying in Melbourne – so Autosport figured we’d take a more detailed look at what Antonelli is doing that has made his true F1 arrival so compelling.

For a start, it’s worth noting the improvement in the Mercedes car package compared to the mid-to-closing stages period of the 2024 championship. The W16 is a far cry from the W15 that spat Hamilton and Russell into those embarrassing shunts at Austin last year, or the one Antonelli smashed to bits on his Monza debut.

The car’s platform is just so stable now – and carried over from the cool Bahrain test to boiling Melbourne. It’s also interesting to see how Russell-like Antonelli’s driving style appears to be, in terms of making singular, decisive steering wheel movements.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Having watched the onboard feed of Antonelli’s fliers in Melbourne, we can see that every time he commits to a corner it’s a via a similar single, confident sweep. Antonelli, does, however, then blend in subsequent, smaller, high-energy stabs, whereas Russell generally opens up the axle from his first movement in a controlled manner to reduce lateral load as a corner goes on.

But how the Mercedes progressed in FP3 was critically different – one that perhaps highlighted the very different stages of their careers. And it would become very important come qualifying and Antonelli’s shock Q1 exit in a car that Russell briefly had looking like a pole contender.

Watching Antonelli’s FP3 onboards showed two things standing out compared to Russell. Across his five completed fliers, he was inconsistent with the critical, tricky, Turn 6 right that feeds on the track’s main acceleration zones. Having been confident enough to get close to the gravel on his first flier here, Antonelli clipped the gravel on his second attempt before reigning it back in.

And, on their respective flying laps (which had them separated by almost 0.3s in Russell’s favour), GPS trace data shows Antonelli was braking significantly later, but then having to completely step off the gas mid-corner. Russell, meanwhile, still had a fair bit of throttle applied as he raced on through the zone where he crashed late in the race here last year.

The other major difference between the Mercedes pair was at the exit of Turn 11, where Antonelli was so visibly wild in all those off-board shots. He just kept running to the maximum width of the exit kerb – picking up muck on his tyres every time.

Russell did this as FP3 commenced, but by the end he was again braking earlier on entry and so able to hold a tighter line on exit – gaining critical hundredths. But their main FP3 time difference came down to that Turn 6 Antonelli lift.

Intriguingly, post-FP3 Toto Wolff suggested Antonelli was just building confidence – but pre-qualifying he already seemed supremely at ease with chucking the W16 about. In qualifying, however, Antonelli’s wildness became costly – although it was only a tiny moment at Turn 6 that ended up having big consequences.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Again, compared to Russell, he braked later and had to release the throttle fully, but on his final Q1 lap he got back on it faster and more thoroughly, which took his trajectory wider on exit. He dipped his left front wheel into the gravel further than he had on that opening FP3 effort – but was nowhere near as wide as some others have been here. The hit plus gravel already pulled and piled onto the kerb by others broke his car’s floor bib part.

Yet, even with this damage, Antonelli went 0.2s quicker on his final Q1 lap.

Now, of course, this might all be but fleeting moments in Antonelli’s fledgling career. And surely the most breathtaking driving of the weekend so far was Gabriel Bortoleto saving his Sauber from a 2022-Sebastian-Vettel shunt exiting Turn 4 late in Q2.

Albert Park is also generally thrilling all the way around and Isack Hadjar was also wagging his Racing Bulls’ rear end heading onto the main straight – such is the challenge of keeping the rear tyres alive here. Antonelli was just doing that more often.

But, with Leclerc having far fewer of his famed wild moments pushing to the limit, it seems F1 has a new driver to watch on that gripping knife-edge dance – such was the extent of Antonelli’s vivid rawness across the build up to and in Australia qualifying.

Don’t mistake this for regurgitation of the brazen PR Mercedes deployed after his Monza shunt – of course Antonelli pushed too hard, too fast there and even Wolff came to regret giving him that home one-off debut.

And he’s started slower than Russell too, all while picking up costly damage in a critical session, suggesting his style still needs tweaking. But Antonelli is still finding the limit: Mercedes was even braced for this.

That’s the F1 rookie game. And within it, for Antonelli, the championship has gained a real treat to watch as the season snaps into life.

Read Also:

In this article

Alex Kalinauckas

Formula 1

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

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Mercedes “not much quicker” on soft tyre in Melbourne F1 practice

on 14 March 2025

George Russell felt confident with his Mercedes W16 on the harder compounds during practice for Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix, but thought the car was struggling to get more out of the softs during the qualifying simulations.

Russell placed 10th overall in the FP2 timesheets, although displayed good levels of projected race pace during the end-of-session long runs, as he felt more comfortable with the C3 and C4 tyres that Pirelli brought to Albert Park.

The Briton was ultimately 0.843s down on Charles Leclerc’s headline lap from FP2, notably behind the Racing Bulls duo and Lance Stroll, as the W16 looked slightly wayward on the C5.

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Russell reckoned that his team could find a smoking gun during the post-session debrief, but noted that the squad was struggling to find the one-lap performance step between soft and medium tyres.

“It was a really up and down day because every time we had the medium or the hard tyre on, we were right in the top two of the time sheets and every lap felt good, felt confident,” Russell said.

“And then we put the soft on, we didn’t go much quicker. Clearly there is a bit of pace in the car and it’s just getting the most out of the tyre, so we need to understand why that is. Let’s see what we can achieve overnight.

“I mean, if the session stopped off with a hard tyre and if the session stopped after the medium tyre and FP1, I’d have said definitely we’re there or thereabouts. But obviously you don’t qualify under the hard or the medium tyre, you qualify on the soft tyre, and we don’t seem so competitive on that one.

“I’m sure we can find some improvements tonight.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli was only 16th fastest in the FP2 order, with a handful of wide moments on his fastest lap, and the young Italian put that down to Mercedes struggling to find the window with the C5 compound.

He added that his own inexperience with the tyre meant that he was struggling to get the right temperatures into the red-walled Pirellis before embarking on his own flying lap attempts, but he was nonetheless positive about his first F1 practice session as a fully minted Mercedes driver.

“It was I think quite a positive day; there’s some work to do on single lap, just getting the tyres in the right window, but overall I felt pretty good,” Antonelli reviewed.

“I did a little mistake at the end, but overall I think I’m getting more and more confidence up, and I think the long run was quite positive today.

“The C5 is a compound I’ve never really used, so definitely I’m learning it; especially the warm-up is quite tricky, but we’ve got some good data ahead of tomorrow.”

Photos from Australian GP – Free Practice

In this article

Jake Boxall-Legge

Formula 1

George Russell

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

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Mercedes undertakes a Verstappen-like project with Antonelli

on 13 March 2025

For Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, it’s personal promoting Andrea Kimi Antonelli to a Formula 1 race seat with the Silver Arrows squad at just 18.

Wolff is viewing Antonelli’s sensational rise through the junior formulas as the chance to put right what went wrong in Mercedes missing out on Max Verstappen’s services back in 2014.

Autosport understands that the Austrian even feels that, had Verstappen been under his wing as Antonelli is now, then the outbursts and incidents that have tracked through the world champion’s career would’ve been reduced in number, if not eliminated altogether.

Understanding Wolff is a critical aspect of Antonelli’s story to this point – just one day away from making his first official F1 race weekend appearance as a full-time driver. A Monza one-off in front of his home Italian crowd this is not.

Wolff signed Antonelli – the son of GT racer Marco Antonelli who owns AKM Motorsport racing team and has a tough guy reputation in motorsport circles – back in 2018 when he was just 12. A development programme with F1 as the ultimate destination followed, with Wolff now considered a firm friend of the Antonelli family.

As a multiple karting champion, Antonelli stepped up to car racing in Formula 4 in 2021 – winning the Italian and ADAC championships the following year. Then in 2023 and just his first season, Antonelli won the Formula Regional European championship that F1 teams have come to view as the best breeding ground for future driving success, as well as its Middle East variation.

Mercedes opted to skip the F3 step on the F1 support bill and place Antonelli directly in Formula 2 for 2024 – with the intention for the famously precarious championship to stop his ‘winning easy’ streak.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Prema Racing

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Wolff and co had thoughts on this being a two-year project before Lewis Hamilton’s defection to Ferrari turbocharged the pace of Antonelli’s F1 graduation.

“I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me that he was going,” Wolff eventually said of his decision to partner Antonelli with George Russell for 2025.

But, in any case, Mercedes was more interested in how Antonelli delivered in its Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme than his F2 results in a 2024 campaign made harder by his Prema team struggling initially with the championship’s new car.

Antonelli’s TPC programme utilised both 2021 and 2022 Mercedes F1 cars. Before his first in the former, the illustrious W12, he made sure to memorise all 30 staff members required to run the car in the test at the Red Bull Ring. Both sides took this rise extremely seriously.

A further sensible exercise in testing Super Formula machinery late in 2024 – specifically to learn the Suzuka track – was scuppered by illness that had also severely impacted Antonelli’s final F2 round in Abu Dhabi last year.

And then, just like that, he was being led around the press room by a Mercedes press attache at the F175 Live event to meet the media as a fully-fledged Mercedes race driver.

“It’s been quite interesting,” he said when Autosport asked if he felt his life had changed in that short time.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Getty Images

“Winter preparation has been quite intense. I’ve been spending a lot of time at the factory trying to do a lot of team building. But, so far, it’s been really interesting and it’s gone well.

“I’ve been really trying to focus, day by day, on the progress and trying to focus on trying to learn as many things as possible. Because what I want to avoid is arriving to Melbourne and having some bad surprises. So definitely preparation has been quite intense, but very good.”

Pre-season testing in 2025 went well for Mercedes, with Antonelli’s day two race simulation shading Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by just 0.1s each lap on average.

Nevertheless, Antonelli left Bahrain lamenting a lack of preparation in extracting the best from the Pirelli tyres in qualifying due to time lost in unexpected rain and then a battery issue. Qualifying is, after all, one of his new team-mate Russell’s greatest strengths.

“For the long runs, I got quite a decent understanding because I’ve been doing a lot of long runs and been experiencing different types of approaches,” he said. “[For example,] how to introduce the tyre into the run.

“Whilst for qualifying, there’s still some work to do. But it’s mainly because of testing we’ve been trying a lot of different approaches with tyres. Also different kind of out-laps in order to see how the tyres react and how it holds on during the lap.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

But, as good as Bahrain went for the Silver Arrows squad, Ferrari and Red Bull are expected to have maintained their positions above Mercedes in the four-way scrap with McLaren.

This means Antonelli will be doing his learning in the glare of the media spotlight to which only Liam Lawson will be able to relate of the big rookie crop this season.

It also means Antonelli is likely to be retreading the ground of learning to win at a new and even tougher level. And, should there be any repeats of his 2024 Monza FP1 shunting, then it is likely Wolff will need to pick his charge up just as he did at critical times last year.

“When we decided to go for Kimi, it was clear that we are going for a young driver that has shown tremendous potential in the junior series since we’ve known him,” Wolff said in Melbourne on Thursday.

“For Kimi, it’s about the time to develop, to learn the tracks, to be on top for next year, the regulation change. That means great results and that means moments where it’s going to be more difficult.”

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In this article

Alex Kalinauckas

Formula 1

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

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Will Mercedes need to repeat tough lesson’s from Antonelli’s sole F2 campaign?

on 13 March 2025

For Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, it’s personal promoting Andrea Kimi Antonelli to a Formula 1 race seat with the Silver Arrows squad at just 18.

Wolff is viewing Antonelli’s sensational rise through the junior formulas as the chance to put right what went wrong in Mercedes missing out on Max Verstappen’s services back in 2014.

Motorsport.com understands that the Austrian even feels that, had Verstappen been under his wing as Antonelli is now, then the outbursts and incidents that have tracked through the world champion’s career would’ve been reduced in number, if not eliminated altogether.

Understanding Wolff is a critical aspect of Antonelli’s story to this point – just one day away from making his first official F1 race weekend appearance as a full-time driver. A Monza one-off in front of his home Italian crowd this is not.

Wolff signed Antonelli – the son of GT racer Marco Antonelli who owns AKM Motorsport racing team and has a tough guy reputation in motorsport circles – back in 2018 when he was just 12. A development programme with F1 as the ultimate destination followed, with Wolff now considered a firm friend of the Antonelli family.

As a multiple karting champion, Antonelli stepped up to car racing in Formula 4 in 2021 – winning the Italian and ADAC championships the following year. Then in 2023 and just his first season, Antonelli won the Formula Regional European championship that F1 teams have come to view as the best breeding ground for future driving success, as well as its Middle East variation.

Mercedes opted to skip the F3 step on the F1 support bill and place Antonelli directly in Formula 2 for 2024 – with the intention for the famously precarious championship to stop his ‘winning easy’ streak.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Prema Racing

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Wolff and co had thoughts on this being a two-year project before Lewis Hamilton’s defection to Ferrari turbocharged the pace of Antonelli’s F1 graduation.

“I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me that he was going,” Wolff eventually said of his decision to partner Antonelli with George Russell for 2025.

But, in any case, Mercedes was more interested in how Antonelli delivered in its Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme than his F2 results in a 2024 campaign made harder by his Prema team struggling initially with the championship’s new car.

Antonelli’s TPC programme utilised both 2021 and 2022 Mercedes F1 cars. Before his first in the former, the illustrious W12, he made sure to memorise all 30 staff members required to run the car in the test at the Red Bull Ring. Both sides took this rise extremely seriously.

A further sensible exercise in testing Super Formula machinery late in 2024 – specifically to learn the Suzuka track – was scuppered by illness that had also severely impacted Antonelli’s final F2 round in Abu Dhabi last year.

And then, just like that, he was being led around the press room by a Mercedes press attache at the F175 Live event to meet the media as a fully-fledged Mercedes race driver.

“It’s been quite interesting,” he said when Motorsport.com asked if he felt his life had changed in that short time.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Getty Images

“Winter preparation has been quite intense. I’ve been spending a lot of time at the factory trying to do a lot of team building. But, so far, it’s been really interesting and it’s gone well.

“I’ve been really trying to focus, day by day, on the progress and trying to focus on trying to learn as many things as possible. Because what I want to avoid is arriving to Melbourne and having some bad surprises. So definitely preparation has been quite intense, but very good.”

Pre-season testing in 2025 went well for Mercedes, with Antonelli’s day two race simulation shading Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by just 0.1s each lap on average.

Nevertheless, Antonelli left Bahrain lamenting a lack of preparation in extracting the best from the Pirelli tyres in qualifying due to time lost in unexpected rain and then a battery issue. Qualifying is, after all, one of his new team-mate Russell’s greatest strengths.

“For the long runs, I got quite a decent understanding because I’ve been doing a lot of long runs and been experiencing different types of approaches,” he said. “[For example,] how to introduce the tyre into the run.

“Whilst for qualifying, there’s still some work to do.

“But it’s mainly because of testing we’ve been trying a lot of different approaches with tyres. Also different kind of out-laps in order to see how the tyres react and how it holds on during the lap.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

But, as good as Bahrain went for the Silver Arrows squad, Ferrari and Red Bull are expected to have maintained their positions above Mercedes in the four-way scrap with McLaren.

This means Antonelli will be doing his learning in the glare of the media spotlight to which only Liam Lawson will be able to relate of the big rookie crop this season.

It also means Antonelli is likely to be retreading the ground of learning to win at a new and even tougher level. And, should there be any repeats of his 2024 Monza FP1 shunting, then it is likely Wolff will need to pick his charge up just as he did at critical times last year.

“When we decided to go for Kimi, it was clear that we are going for a young driver that has shown tremendous potential in the junior series since we’ve known him,” Wolff said in Melbourne on Thursday.

“For Kimi, it’s about the time to develop, to learn the tracks, to be on top for next year, the regulation change. That means great results and that means moments where it’s going to be more difficult.”

Photos from Australian GP – Thursday

Read Also:

In this article

Alex Kalinauckas

Formula 1

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

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Wolff expects Antonelli to match Russell in 2025