Formula 2 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been described as 'the real deal' by Mercedes technical director James Allison, after the Italian teenager took part in his latest F1 test session with the team.
“He’s certainly impressed everyone with the sessions he’s run so far,” Allison told the media. “He’d never been in an F1 car, but he looked like he had within a lap or two.
"He’s consistent, didn’t make any mistakes," Allison continued. "Young people can be trying to impress so much that they will spin off, or the opposite - they’re so terrified of spinning off that they don’t really show what they can do.
“Kimi seemed to just naturally slip into the right groove on that, giving decent input about how the car felt, while not really putting a foot wrong," Allison added. "So he looks like the real deal.”
Antonelli could make his debut at Williams in 2025. He is considered favourite to eventually take over Lewis Hamilton's seat at Mercedes, and is already being described as 'the next Max Verstappen'.
"You can see that with Kimi, he’s very talented," said Verstappen last week when asked about the Mercedes protege who could be starting alongside him on the grid as soon as next season.
Verstappen was also just 17 when he graduated to F1 in 2015. Asked if he had any advice for Antonelli, Verstappen said that it was important to make a few mistakes at the start of his F1 career.
"I don’t think you should be too worried," he said. "Make mistakes – you have to make mistakes. Ideally you like to make those mistakes when you’re not fighting for championships or whatever.
"It’s important to make them, because even though you tell yourself all the time ‘I cannot do this, I cannot do that’, you will only adapt really if you make them and then move forwards.
“When you’re that young, just focus on trying to go as fast as you can, make your mistakes, have good race results," he offered. "Don’t try to think about it too much, just let it happen.
“I got lucky with that, starting at Toro Rosso. Not many people are looking at [me] all the time, so you can make some silly mistakes here and there.
"Then it’s just understanding the set-up of a racing car more and more. Over time, of course cars evolve but when you are with one particular team, you know more or less what works or not.
"Being with the same kind of race engineers and people around you that fine-tune the car for you, all these kinds of things – the more you spend time with them, the more it comes to you.
“For me personally, the biggest [thing to learn] was actually doing a full race distance," he said. “In F3 at the time you did 35-minute races, so there’s a lot more involved. Looking after your tyres is a big part of it.
“Just general growing up as a person as well," he added. "Even outside the car, knowing what you want in your private life.
“Going through the good moments, the bad moments, how you come out of these things, difficult weekends where it’s just not working for you or whatever… There’s so much to learn."
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