Antonelli to equal 70-year Mercedes F1 record

New Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli is to equal a 71-year record when he makes his debut for the team. 

Antonelli has long been a Mercedes protege and was selected as the replacement for Lewis Hamilton after he decided to join Ferrari. 

Antonelli will be 18 when he makes his debut for the team in Australia in March as one of six rookie drivers on the grid, including full rookies Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar, with Ollie Bearman and Liam Lawson having already driven in a number of grands prix.

In doing so, Antonelli will become the first rookie to drive for Mercedes since the team's first-ever world championship grand prix at the 1954 German Grand Prix.

Mercedes, with the iconic W196 streamliners were late to the start of the 1954 championship, but first appeared with three cars for Juan Manuel Fangio, Hans Hermann, and Karl Kling.

Fangio was already a world champion, having won the 1951 title for Alfa Romeo, with Hermann having one previous start in a private entry at the 1953 German GP. 

Kling was a rookie, and started and finished second behind Fangio, crossing the line just 0.1s behind the great Argentine in a Mercedes one-two. 

Kling stayed on for 1955, taking one podium in the British GP in a Mercedes one-two-three-four on the day Stirling Moss won his first grand prix at Aintree.

Fangio was second, as he wrapped up his second straight title, and third overall, having slowed in the closing stages to let Moss through. 

Mercedes would withdrew from motorsport in the wake of the Le Mans disaster of '55 when Pierre Levagh crashed into the crowd in a Mercedes, killing 84 people, including Levagh. 

It would return as the works team of today in 2010, taking over the Brawn GP entry which traced its routes back to Tyrrell, BAR and Honda.