Antonelli back in Mercedes seat at Mexican GP FP1

Kimi Antonelli has been handed his second free practice outing of the season by Mercedes, the young Italian replacing Lewis Hamilton in Friday’s opening practice at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has confirmed that the 18-year-old sensation, who will fill Hamilton’s vacant seat at Mercedes in 2025, will take to the track at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in FP1.

Antonelli’s maiden official F1 outing with the Brackley squad, which took place in free practice at last month’s Italian Grand Prix, was a brief affair, with the teenager crashing just minutes into the session.

“Kimi will be in the car for his second FP1 session and we look forward to him continuing his development on track,” commented Wolff in Mercedes’ race weekend preview.

But the SilverArrows outfit will first and foremost be seeking to steer itself back on the right track in Mexico City after a challenging race weekend at the US Grand Prix in Austin, where Hamilton crashed early on in the race while teammate George Russell was able to deliver a sixth-place finish despite starting his afternoon of racing from the pitlane.

• Read also: Antonelli finds common ground with Hamilton that he ‘didn’t expect’

“With its high altitude, Mexico presents a unique challenge,” commented Wolff in Mercedes’ race preview. The power unit has to work harder and, to counteract the thin air, we run at maximum downforce.

“It will provide another opportunity to evaluate our recent update package. Kimi will also be in the car for his second FP1 session and we look forward to him continuing his development on track.”

After a difficult weekend in Austin, we have the opportunity to bounce back immediately in Mexico,” commented Wollf in Mercedes’ Mexican Grand Prix race preview.

“Our performance in Texas showed that there is inherent performance in the car. Our challenge is extracting this consistently. That is not the result of one specific challenge, but the interaction of the car across both aero and mechanical factors.

“We have five more races to work on this before the end of the season. It is important that we do so, not only for our immediate performance but to also set ourselves up well for 2025.”

As usual in Mexico City, teams will be forced to deal with the unique characteristics of a venue located at a much higher altitude than usual.

“The power unit has to work harder and, to counteract the thin air, we run at maximum downforce,” Wolff explained. “It will provide another opportunity to evaluate our recent update package.”

After being comprehensively outscored by its rivals last weekend at The Circuit of the Americas, Mercedes is still fourth in F1’s Constructors’ standings, 200 points behind McLaren and 152 points off of third-placed team Ferrari.

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