Andrea Kimi Antonelli has revealed how quickly Mercedes reacted to Lewis Hamilton’s decision to leave the team at the beginning of 2024.
The world championship leader said he first learned Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff intended to promote him to the team before Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari was announced.
Ferrari announced Hamilton would join them in February 2024. Antonelli said Mercedes told him of their decision shortly beforehand.
“It’s 2024, the year I’m turning 18, it’s February, I was in Silverstone,” he said in a recent interview for one of the team’s sponsors. “I was testing Formula 3 to learn the track, because I was going to race there with Formula 2.
“I remember at the end of the day, Toto called me over to his office. And already there, I was a bit confused, because I’m like, [this] doesn’t really happen.
“So I got into his office. Obviously, it’s Toto, there’s Rosa [Herrero Venegas, PR manager] and she’s the one helping me during race weekends.
“Toto, first of all, didn’t waste any time, went straight to the point and it was like this was even before Lewis was announced. To Ferrari. So he said, look, Lewis is going to Ferrari and we were thinking to put you in the car for next year. And I’m like, ‘whoa’.”
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Antonelli had won the Formula Regional European Championship the year before. “My eyes were wide open and I was like, ‘are you kidding me?’ Because I hadn’t even started F2.
“So I had still so much to prove that I could earn that spot. And Toto was already talking about it.”
Wolff asked Antonelli if he would be ready for the opportunity. “I said, yeah, I’ve got to be ready,” Antonelli recalled.
Mercedes began a programme of F1 tests for Antonelli that year, culminating in his first appearance in an official practice session at Monza. Although Antonelli crashed five laps into the session, the following day Mercedes announced he would take Hamilton’s place in 2025.
However Antonelli had already learned of Mercedes’ decision long before that weekend.
“The official announcement came just at the start of summer break. It was, I think, just the start of August, probably, first day of August. I was at home with my family, and Toto organised this call, and where there were also all the big names from Mercedes.
“There was James Allison [technical director], Gwen Lagrue, who was the one who took me in the junior programme. There was Bradley [Lord], Rosa again, there was all of the big ones. Toto in the call went straight to the point and said he’s going to be our driver for next year. And it was an incredible moment.”
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