The crazy numbers of Andrea Kimi Antonelli's tenure at Mercedes

18 years, 6 months and 22 days

Barely an adult and already a permanent employee in Formula 1 ! Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who celebrated his 18th birthday on August 25, will become the third youngest driver in history if he takes the start of the Australian Grand Prix, the opening of the 3 season: he will be 2025 years, 18 months and 6 days on March 22. Only two drivers have had even earlier debuts: Max Verstappen in 2015 (17 years, 5 months and 15 days) and Lance stroll in 2017.

2006

Born on August 25, 2006, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be the first Formula 1 driver – along with Oliver Bearman – to be born after the last title of Michael Schumacher. Incidentally, "AKA" was born only one month and six days before the Red Baron's last Formula 1 victory, at the 2006 Chinese GP. At the time, Fernando Alonso was already heading towards his 2nd world title with Renault...

25 years and 27 days

… and indeed, there is literally a generation gap between the youngest driver in the discipline in 2025 and the oldest driver in Formula 1. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (18 years old) and Fernando Alonso (43 years old) are 25 years and 27 days apart! The Spaniard already had a title and four and a half seasons in Formula 1 under his belt when the Italian was born.

84th Italian

Andrea Kimi Antonelli will perpetuate Italy's long and rich history in Formula 1 by becoming the 84th Italian driver to start a Grand Prix, the first since Antonio Giovinazzi at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A victory next season would end a drought of more than 20 years without success for Italy: the last victory dates back to the 2004 Monaco GP, with Jarno Trulli's triumph in the Principality. Two Italians have been crowned world champions: Nino Farina (1950) and Alberto Ascari (1952-1953).

13th Mercedes driver

The Bologna native will become the 13th driver Mercedes since 1954 after Hermann Lang, Juan Manuel Fangio, André Simon, Piero Taruffi, Hans Herrmann, Stirling Moss, Karl Kling, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and George Russell.

6th pilot born in the XNUMXst century

Andrea Kimi Antonelli will also be the 6th driver born in the 1st century to be a regular in Formula XNUMX after Oscar piastri, Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman, Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto. Let us recall that the 2001st century begins in the year XNUMX: Yuki tsunoda et Logan sargeant were therefore not born in our century…

3 years (and a half) of single-seaters

Finally, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will compete in his first season in Formula 1 after only three and a half seasons in car. The Italian has abandoned the karting for the single-seater in mid-2021 with almost immediate success in F4 Italy and F4 Germany (two titles in 2022). In 2023, the protégé of the Mercedes clan won FRECA (Europe) and FRMEC (Middle East), before moving directly to Formula 2 in 2024.

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