{"id":141985,"date":"2025-09-16T21:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T21:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/141985\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T21:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T21:09:08","slug":"f1-star-hinted-as-immediate-replacement-for-kimi-antonelli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/141985\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 star hinted as ‘IMMEDIATE’ replacement for Kimi Antonelli"},"content":{"rendered":"

An immediate replacement for Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes<\/a> has been proposed amid the rookie’s difficult first full season in F1. <\/p>\n

\nSince Antonelli claimed a sensational podium at the Canadian Grand Prix<\/a> back in May, things have gone rapidly downhill. <\/p>\n

\nThe 19-year-old has only picked up three points in the last six races – courtesy of P9 and P10 finishes at Monza and Budapest respectively. <\/p>\n

\nFilling Lewis Hamilton<\/a>‘s shoes at Mercedes was always going to be an impossible act to follow, and Antonelli’s age combined with inexperience meant that nobody was expecting miracles this year. <\/p>\n

\nHowever, with Antonelli 128 points adrift of his team-mate George Russell in equal machinery, questions have been asked as to whether or not the Italian has what it takes to make it in F1.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nOne of those questioning this is Ralf Schumacher, who spoke to the Formel 1 YouTube channel <\/a>as to who Mercedes should sign if they did not keep Antonelli next season. <\/p>\n

Kimi Antonelli at risk of Mercedes axe?<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWell, a rookie for Mercedes is fine anyway, let\u2019s say now in the season where they were and in this development phase, you can do that,” he said. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cBut I agree with you, there\u2019s nobody big on the market at the moment where you\u2019d say, I absolutely have to have him now, most of them are all sorted. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cAnd obviously, Toto Wolff doesn\u2019t think much of Bottas, otherwise he would have kept him. You have to say that, sorry about that. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cSo it\u2019s difficult. Yes, the George Russell<\/a> issue is a bit surprising, but maybe there\u2019ll be a twist at some point, the punchline as to why they\u2019re waiting so long, because I think Mercedes must be happy to have him by now, but there\u2019s no alternative. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cSo, they have to see it through for another year, and then they\u2019ll have to see how things go.” <\/p>\n

\nThere was though one name that Schumacher suggested could be ready to parachute in at a moment’s notice – Williams<\/a> star Carlos Sainz<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cI think Carlos Sainz would be available at any time,” he added. “I mean, there seem to be some clauses, I don\u2019t know exactly, at least that\u2019s what you hear. <\/p>\n

\n“He would certainly be the first person that comes to mind.\u201d <\/p>\n

\nF1 HEADLINES: Double driver replacement confirmed as legend to miss Azerbaijan Grand Prix<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: F1 announce 2026 sprint race calendar as \u2018reverse grid\u2019 talks expected<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: Toto Wolff labels George Russell an ‘a**hole’ in Mercedes contract saga<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: Sacked F1 boss REJECTS return offers as new venture confirmed<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: Max Verstappen absence confirmed for next race<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An immediate replacement for Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes has been proposed amid the rookie’s difficult first full season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[7572,1687,372,6537,6868,19579,34237,65860,6964,50,11820,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-141985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-carlos-sainz","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-gpfans","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-latest-f1-news","tag-matthew-hobkinson","tag-mercedes","tag-news","tag-ralf-schumacher","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}