F1 wonderkid in Imola TEST amid driver replacement reports

Mercedes prospect Andrea Kimi Antonelli is on the fast-track path to the pinnacle of motorsport, after completing another test in Formula 1 machinery.

The 17-year-old has been part of the Mercedes junior team since 2019, and is currently competing in his first season in F2 with Prema Racing after jumping from Formula 4.

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The Italian sits ninth in the world championship with 24 points and achieved his best result to date in the previous round in Australia, finishing fourth in the feature race.

Antonelli is under consideration for the vacant Mercedes seat for 2025 to replace Lewis Hamilton, who will make the move to Ferrari in a multi-year deal.

Antonelli tests W13 at Imola

The teenage sensation got his first taste of F1 machinery at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on April 17, completing 500km across two days in the W12; the car that almost won Hamilton his record eighth world title in 2021.

Now, not even two weeks later, Antonelli has been back in the seat of an F1 car as he completed a test around Imola in the 2022 W13.

In a video posted on YouTube of the teenager’s run, he is seen to have a slight off-moment, as he locked up the front left tyre heading into turn 17, and ran into the gravel at low speed.

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His second Mercedes test comes after speculation that he could be drafted in by James Vowles to replace Logan Sargeant at Williams, as early as the Emilia-Romagna GP.

Sargeant has had an underwhelming time in F1 since being promoted from F2 in 2023, and has been considerably outperformed by experienced team-mate Alex Albon.

Albon outqualified the American at all 22 races last season and thus far has repeated this dominance in 2024, and Sargeant only scored one of the team’s 28 points in 2023.

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