Hamilton: Antonelli represents ‘new wave’ of F1 talent

Lewis Hamilton believes his expected replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be nurtured at Mercedes and that the Italian is "naturally" one of its drivers.

The 18-year-old will make his F1 weekend debut in FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix, in place of George Russell, who he is highly likely to partner next season.

To the seven-time champion, Antonelli is the right candidate to succeed him at the Brackley-based team, and feels Antonelli would be in a "great environment" there.

Hamilton detailed what he feels is a "new wave" of talent breaking through into F1, something he highlighted as having worked out well for McLaren when they elevated him to a race seat in 2007.

"I said a long time ago that I think that's who the team should choose moving forwards, [but] time will tell what they end up deciding to do," the 39-year-old told media including RacingNews365.

"We've [Mercedes have] been watching him through the different formulas. I think naturally he's a Mercedes driver.

"We are starting to see a lot of younger drivers coming through, and I think we're just in that time.

"There's only 20 seats, and I think it's time - we're starting to see this new wave come through, in terms of taking on another driver that's had many, many years of experience, as opposed to giving an opportunity to a youngster - that's what McLaren did for me, and it worked out well.

"In my opinion, it's just an opportunity for him to grow. He's going to get to work, he would get to work, with the best in class, learn from people that I've worked with for so many years.

"It is a lot of weight on someone's shoulders, but as I said, it's a great environment that I think they will just be able to nurture him and carry him through it."

'Other really good options' for Mercedes seat

Currently racing in F2, Antonelli skipped FIA F3 altogether on his way up the feeder series pyramid.

After a relatively slow start to the year, in part due to Prema underperforming, the Italian driver took impressive victories in the Silverstone sprint and Hungaroring feature race prior to the summer break.

He will resume his debut F2 campaign at Monza this weekend, and it is anticipated he will also be confirmed as a 2025 Mercedes driver at the Temple of Speed.

However, Hamilton was quick to not rule out other options on the table for Mercedes, with any official confirmation still pending - meaning there could still be a late change in plan, regardless of how unlikely that might be.

"There are other really good options, so you'd have to ask Toto [Wolff] which one he's leaning towards," the 105-time grand prix winner said.