Mercedes' Hamilton replacement decided with announcement in the works - report

Mercedes has made the call on who will replace Lewis Hamilton at the team next season, with an announcement to come over the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix.

This is according to Italian publication Autosprint, which reports that Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be confirmed as George Russell's team-mate for 2025 at Monza.

The Italian driver stepped up to F2 this season, skipping FIA F3 entirely, and already has the requisite FIA super licence points to race in F1.

As a Mercedes junior, the 17-year-old has been put through an extensive testing programme this season, driving previous years cars at Imola, the Red Bull Ring and Spa-Francorchamps to supplement his time in the F1 support paddock.

The Prema Racing driver has slowly come into his own in F2, with an impressive wet-weather victory in the Silverstone sprint and an impressive weekend at the Hungaroring, which culminated in his winning the feature race in imperious fashion.

Over the weekend in Budapest, Antonelli questioned whether he was ready to step up to F1 when speaking to media including RacingNews365.

However, the writing has been on the wall for some time, despite Toto Wolff's faint hope of landing Max Verstappen for 2025 ultimately delaying the decision.

After the Spanish Grand Prix, the Austrian told media including RacingNews365 that he would hold off making the call as long as he could because: "who knows what happens?"

Wolff will retain the hope of signing Verstappen in the future, potentially as early as 2026, but it appears that for now, it will be Antonelli and Russell at Mercedes next season.