Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Andrea Kimi Antonelli is an Italian racing driver born on 25 August 2006. A long-time Mercedes junior, he tore through the single-seater ladder, winning both the Italian and ADAC Formula 4 titles in 2022 and the Formula Regional European and Middle East championships in 2023, before being fast-tracked to Formula 1. In just 37 starts he has already taken seven wins, fourteen podiums and five pole positions, scoring 417 career points.

Antonelli stepped up to Mercedes in 2025 to replace the departed Lewis Hamilton, an enormous responsibility for a teenager. He handled it with maturity, taking podiums and a pole in his rookie year and finishing seventh in the championship on 150 points. In 2026 he has exploded into a title contender, reeling off victories at the front of the field.

In 2026 Antonelli partners George Russell at Mercedes. After fourteen rounds he leads the drivers' standings on 292 points with eight wins, 81 clear of Russell. The crowning moment came at Monza in Round 13: dropped to 19th on the grid by a power-unit penalty, he carved through the field, passed Russell for the lead on lap 50 and won his home Grand Prix with the fastest lap — the first Italian winner at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. A week later he added the first Formula 1 race ever held in Madrid, out-foxing pole-sitter Lando Norris under a virtual safety car to win the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring.

Antonelli combines exceptional natural speed with a calm, analytical approach that belies his youth. Groomed by Mercedes from an early age, he carries the weight of being Italy's brightest F1 hope in a generation, and his rapid evolution from rookie to championship leader has marked him as a potential future world champion.