Kimi Antonelli is “lucky” that he is a “protected species” at Mercedes and free of danger over his career, unlike if he was a “Red Bull youngster”.

That is the claim made by respected F1 driver turned pundit Martin Brundle, but with Antonelli suffering a “torrid” time in the Mercedes W16, Brundle cannot understand why Mercedes overlooked the George Russell blueprint and put Antonelli straight in one of their seats.

Kimi Antonelli: Mercedes F1 career too much too soon?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

After storming to the Italian Formula 4 title, and following that up with the Formula Regional European and Middle East crowns, Mercedes fast-tracked Antonelli to Formula 2 and, despite mixed results, settled on the Italian teenager as Lewis Hamilton’s F1 2025 replacement.

His rookie season got off to a strong start, with consistent top 10 finishes as experienced team-mate George Russell hoovered up podium results, but Antonelli has scored points just once in his last seven grands prix, having made the podium for the first time in Canada.

Crossing the line P16 only last time out in Belgian, Brundle feels Antonelli desperately needs the summer break which comes after this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

However, Brundle also believes Antonelli is in a “lucky” situation at Mercedes, one which takes the pressure off his seat, even if he believes it is mounting for the 18-year-old Italian.

“Kimi Antonelli is having a torrid time in the sister Merc,” Brundle wrote in his Sky Sports column.

“He’s only scored points once in the last seven GPs and it’s not too difficult to observe that he’s really feeling that pressure on his very young shoulders.

“He’s lucky because he’s effectively a protected species at the team and won’t be living in fear of his career like a Red Bull youngster, but the summer break can’t come early enough for him I suspect.”

At this point, Brundle warns Mercedes cannot let Antonelli’s “head spiral”, and suggested that starting his F1 career in a Mercedes was a major error from the team.

Russell, like Antonelli, was a graduate of the Mercedes Junior Team, though it was only after three seasons with Williams that he was promoted to Mercedes.

“I still wonder why they didn’t give Kimi a couple of years to learn his trade in a lesser spotlight as they did with George Russell,” Brundle continued.

“He’s a generational talent as my Sky colleague Nico Rosberg would say, but they can’t let his head spiral.”

Latest F1 2025 head-to-head standings

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

For Antonelli, it is clear in his mind how he can make life easier for himself.

“I shouldn’t be starting that far back,” Antonelli told the media, including PlanetF1.com, after finishing sixteenth from a pit-lane start in Belgium, having originally qualified eighteenth.

“I think I need to work on my qualifying, and work to get the confidence back with the car and in order to start more at the front. Because when you start at the front, it’s a completely different race.”

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