Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s rookie season with Mercedes has been a rollercoaster ride for the youngster, who is currently in the midst of a bad run of form.

Kimi Antonelli took the chequered flag outside of the points in Belgium for the sixth time in the last seven races. His bad run of form features four DNFs, with a podium in Montreal being the only silver lining, splitting the poor results.

F1 fans believe Mercedes made an error by calling up Antonelli too soon after his emotional media session following qualifying for the Belgian GP.

However, Mercedes chief Andrew Shovlin defended Antonelli’s recent results, explaining that the development of their 2025 spec W16 has regressed throughout the season. This has made it more difficult for the Mercedes drivers to compete with their rivals at the top.

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Kimi Antonelli hasn’t shown his potential ‘as often’ as we would have expected at Mercedes

Speaking on The Race F1 Podcast, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm noted the surprise of both Antonelli and Mercedes in their lack of competitiveness throughout the 2025 season.

“The peaks have been there, they just haven’t happened quite as often as we would have expected,” Mitchell-Malm said. The floor has been very low as well, which I think is what has surprised Antonelli and surprised Mercedes.

“We’ve just had a very extreme version of what we could have had or what we probably thought might be the worst-case scenario. It’s worse than we expected, but it’s just at the extreme end of what you get when you put an 18-year-old in an F1 car when he’s had one season in Formula 2.

“They knew they were taking a gamble. When you do that, you accept that there will be highs and lows through that first season, and you need to stick with your driver through those low points, it would make no sense for them to get rid of him.”

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Mercedes sending Kimi Antonelli out on loan would be an ‘acknowledgement’ of the damage they’ve done

In recent weeks, Antonelli has been linked with a loan move to Alpine to open up the Mercedes seat for someone with more experience. Alpine also don’t yet have a driver to pair Pierre Gasly for next season.

However, Mitchell-Malm believes the experience will do more damage to Antonelli’s confidence, saying, “
If they did put him somewhere else, I think that would be an acknowledgement that they’ve already done damage that they need to correct.

CategoryGeorge RussellAndrea Kimi Antonelli2025 points14763Grand Prix results120Grand Prix qualifying11Grand Prix wins10Grand Prix poles10Grand Prix podiums41Best finish1st4thDisqualifications00Retirements02Retirements (classified finish)00Fastest laps11Grand Prix points finishes127Sprint results20Sprint Qualifying11Sprint wins00Sprint poles01Sprint podiums00The 2025 F1 teammate head-to-head battle of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli

“And if they’re in that situation, it would be quite hard for him to come back from it. So I hope and expect he will just continue with Mercedes, and they will just keep working to find a solution.”

Guenther Steiner recently made his feelings about Antonelli clear, stating that he doesn’t think he should have been on the F1 grid at all this season. The former team principal believes the 18-year-old’s jump to F1 was too soon, and that he is suffering from the pressure that comes with driving for Mercedes.