Antonelli to start at Mercedes in 2025: Deciphering a risky but courageous decision

His face, his smile, and his little brown curls can easily summon memories of Ayrton Senna. The most spiritual would even see in the Italian the reincarnation of the Brazilian God. Kimi does not yet have quite the same charisma, nor the same mysticism in his gaze. But he is only at the beginning of his story, and has not yet experienced enough to give off the same aura as the Auriverde. The kid, who blew out his 18th candle last Sunday while his future teammate George Russell battled on the Zandvoort circuit, remains despite everything a talent apart. Son of a team boss evolving in GT in Italy, Kimi (don't see any connection with Räikkönen, we already asked him!) lives only for driving. Capable of crossing Italy and France by train from his native Bologna just to attend the 24 hours of Le Mans, or to go and support his little F4 buddies on his few free weekends, Andrea Kimi is a fanatic. A terror of karting, the Italian has notably won the European Championships twice in the Senior category (OK), while showing a great impression of ease. His time in car was not enough to stop the hype, as he won the two main F4 championships of the time (Italy and Germany) in 2022. His passage in FRECA, usually so tortuous for rookies, was (almost) a walk in the park. He became the first rookie to be titled in the category since Lando Norris in 2016, at a time when it was still called Formula Renault Eurocup. Point of F3 then, Mercedes decided to make him skip a grade and propel him straight into F2. A way of