Andrea Kimi Antonelli was more nervous than he had been for some time. A racing driver’s career can often hinge on sliding doors moments such as these.

The 18-year-old wasn’t trying to secure a Formula One drive. He completed that mission months ago when he signed with Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton.

He was about to sit his driving test.

Thirty minutes later, the Italian teenager beamed beneath his mop of curly hair and raised a thumb to the camera. He’d passed — first time, of course. There would be no need to squeeze in another test between the hectic travel demands of the F1 calendar. And the ‘honor’ of being an active F1 driver without a road license — once true of Max Verstappen, who debuted at age 17 — will not apply to Antonelli.

It was an early dose of pressure handled well by the driver who will debut for Mercedes at the Australian Grand Prix on March 16, stepping into the cockpit vacated by Hamilton, a seven-time world champion 21 years Antonelli’s senior.

Antonelli knows he cannot expect to emulate Hamilton’s 12-year run at Mercedes, which yielded six world championships and 84 race wins to become the most successful driver-team partnership in F1 history. But he is taking in all the support he can ahead of his debut season.

“I’m the next Mercedes driver and I’m taking the seat of someone who made history in the sport, so it’s a big privilege,” Antonelli told The Athletic in an interview. “It’s a big responsibility, but I’ve got the right people around me.”

Cars have always been a central part of Antonelli’s life.

His father, Marco, watched how young Kimi played with toy cars and decided to take him go-karting at five.

Kimi instantly fell in love with the sensation of speed. (Antonelli goes by his middle name, which has no connection to the 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.) Yet Marco, who still races in sportscars with his own GT team, Antonelli Motorsport, which competes across Europe, was initially wary of pursuing it too seriously. He didn’t want Kimi to get hurt in what can be a ruthless world.

“Sometimes motorsport can be cruel,” Antonelli said. “He was afraid that I would have been too hurt from disappointment, so he wanted to avoid that. But seeing that I really loved driving and really loved the sport, he decided to give it a go. He could see, without me really telling him, that I had the passion for motorsport.”

That love was furthered by father-and-son Sundays spent watching F1 races together. While Antonelli would have grown up watching Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, his racing heroes are from much further back. His dad showed him the famous race between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux at Dijon in 1979, regarded by many as the greatest on-track battle of all time, which gave him an appreciation of the sport’s history from a young age.

“It was just amazing,” Antonelli said. “You see how different it was, compared to now, the safety, the cars. You also appreciate the way the drivers were still battling on track despite knowing that the cars were not as safe as today. They were still going for it and you really appreciate seeing those battles.”

Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna emerged as Antonelli’s favorite drivers, in part thanks to their tenacious style on the track. “Ayrton is my hero, but Villeneuve, now I understand why my dad was such a big fan of him,” Antonelli said. “He was a lion on the track.”

After first using 12 as his racing number in Formula Four, Antonelli chose it for his F1 debut season as a nod to Senna, who raced with 12 through the first four years of his career, including his first championship season in 1988. By coincidence, Villeneuve also raced with 12 in 1978 and 1979.

While the history lessons Antonelli received as a child furthered his passion off the track, on the track, he quickly excelled, rising up the go-karting ladder. His progress put him on the radar of top talent scouts, among whom was Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes’ junior guru. This led to Antonelli meeting Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff at age 11 before signing to its young driver program at 13.

It was Antonelli’s character as well as his ability that impressed Wolff. By the time he stepped up to single-seaters and continued winning everything he laid his hands upon, including both the Italian and German F4 titles in his first year before the Formula Regional title in 2023, it was clear the teenager had the makings of something special. In the long term, a place in the future Mercedes F1 lineup alongside George Russell has always been in the mind of the team’s management. It was just a matter of timing.

When Hamilton, who many expected would end his career at Mercedes, revealed last January that he would be leaving for Ferrari in 2025, it took Wolff five minutes to decide Antonelli, then just 17, would be the man to replace him.

“We have a great relationship, not only professionally, but also outside of the track,” Antonelli said of Wolff. “He’s a great guy, really supportive during great moments but also during difficult moments. I’m super happy to be with him. He’s been giving me a lot of help.”

Wolff has even entrusted Antonelli with teaching his six-year-old son, Jack, how to go-kart. “He’s not bad, he’s been improving quite a lot,” Antonelli said. “Every test, he was getting better and better. It was nice to see.”

The one thing both Wolff and Mercedes have been eager to avoid is putting too much pressure or expectation on Antonelli. A crash just minutes into his first F1 practice outing at Monza, one day before he was announced in the 2025 seat, was brushed off as part of the learning curve. Mercedes doesn’t expect an 18-year-old to replicate what Hamilton achieved.

Debuting for such a high-profile team at such a young age is rare in F1. Typically, young drivers will get their first opportunity further down the grid to learn the ropes and make a name for themselves before proving they are ready for a top seat. Russell spent three years at Williams before getting the Mercedes drive. Red Bull initially placed Verstappen at its sister team, Toro Rosso, before promoting him during his second season.

The one great, successful exception to the rule in recent F1 history is the man Antonelli will replace: Hamilton. He was given a McLaren seat for his debut season in 2007 and came within one point of winning the championship as a rookie. It’s an impossibly high bar, one there is no expectation for Antonelli to meet.

Antonelli’s youth meant his step up to F1 required an extra degree of preparation. Alongside his Formula Two racing commitments last year, he conducted an extensive amount (just under 20 days) of private testing in old cars, with his pace impressing the engineering team. Antonelli was also able to embed himself with the Mercedes engineering crew at races through the second half of the season, getting to know the voices and faces he will lean upon through 2025.

Antonelli feels a responsibility not only toward Mercedes but also toward his native Italy. While the nation has a rich, unparalleled history in motorsport, with Ferrari becoming a de facto national team, it has not produced a world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953 nor a grand prix winner since Giancarlo Fisichella’s last success in 2006 with Renault.

“There’s a lot more hype around, of course, heading into next season,” Antonelli said. “Definitely, you feel a bit of responsibility because you know you’ve got Italy behind you. Everyone expects me to be successful, especially because I’ll be racing a Mercedes.

“But it’s also really exciting. I cannot wait for next year to get started and also I cannot wait for my home race at Imola. I would love to see so many Italians cheering.” The swathes of red for Ferrari that typically cover the grandstands at Imola may well be interspersed with Mercedes’ silver and black this year.

At Imola, Monza and beyond, the adjustment to fame will be hard for Antonelli to truly prepare for until it happens. He’s already getting recognized a lot more. Fans stopped him every few steps as he walked through Milan Malpensa airport last year off his flight from Heathrow; Antonelli graciously paused for selfies each time. He admitted it felt “a bit strange” to begin with, but he knows it’s part of the job. “When you get used to it, it’s normal.”

Antonelli, 18, and Bearman, 19, will join the F1 grid this year. (Joe Portlock / Getty Images)

Normal in F1, yes, but Antonelli is still a teenager — part of F1’s new wave of talent that has transformed the look and dramatically reduced the average age of the grid for 2025. Away from racing, he enjoys playing padel (the hobby of choice for much of the grid) and has already enjoyed some spirited matches with his new teammate, Russell. But he also likes to keep sharp by go-karting or even doing sim racing with his friends.

An endearing element of Antonelli’s rise last year was his friendship with his F2 teammate Ollie Bearman, who will also graduate to F1 this year with Haas. Both racing for Prema, they made several fun social media videos together and struck up a good relationship away from the track. It’s something Antonelli hopes can be of help to them both as they make the leap to F1.

“He’s a great guy, he’s quick,” Antonelli said of Bearman. “I’ve learned a lot from him. I’m happy to be sharing the grid with him next year. Because we’re going to be new next year, especially at the start, just the fact we’ve known each other and we’ve been racing together, it will help.”

When it comes to handling the leap up to F1, Antonelli will look to all the support he can get. While he will be one of six full-season rookies on the F1 grid this year, he and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, who already has 11 races to his name, are likely to draw the most attention for the fact they’re with front-running teams that won races last year.

It makes the preparations for Antonelli all the more important. Mercedes will start 2025 trying to find the consistency it lacked for so much of last year. Russell will morph into the role of team leader following Hamilton’s departure, but for Antonelli, it’s all about getting the basics right and not letting the occasion over-awe him. “It’s going to be a big season ahead,” Antonelli said.

Now, with his driver’s license, F1’s youngest driver is ready for anything.

(Top photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images)