Steiner hints at imminent Hamilton replacement reveal

Guenther Steiner believes Mercedes will announce Lewis Hamilton's replacement imminently, with junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli highly likely to get the seat.

Racing for Prema in F2 this term, the young Italian skipped FIA Formula 3 altogether on his ascent up the feeder ladder.

When a guest on the RacingNews365.com podcast, Steiner spoke glowingly of the 17-year-old, highlighting how grounded and mature he appears to be - something the former Haas team principal expects given Antonelli has been under the tutelage of Toto Wolff. 

"I don't know him personally, but what you see, [his] reaction when he was speculated to be in the Mercedes, for sure that could have gone a completely different way, him get getting too ambitious, but he kept his feet on the ground," Steiner replied when asked how impressed he had been by Antonelli.

"But we never can forget, he comes from a racing family, he is mentored by Toto [Wolff] and Mercedes... when you are young, and being educated in how to behave, how to think, how things are going in an F1 team, and you're so close to one of, if not the best, team principal in the paddock, it gives you confidence and you learn and you understand.

"So, therefore, he can make these grow-up comments. He didn't know this when he was born, he learned this over the last 10 years because he was groomed a long time for Mercedes.

"So, we should be expecting something like this from him, but it's still nice to see that actually [at] 17 years [of age], he is talked by everybody up to be the Mercedes driver, he says to a team: 'Just stay calm a moment, because I don't know if I'm ready.'"

Antonelli, who is completing a comprehensive testing programme with Mercedes this year, came into F2 with high expectations.

Over the opening rounds of the season he, and Haas-bound team-mate Oliver Bearman, struggled for results as Prema found it difficult to get on top of the new F2 car.

However, as his campaign has progressed, the Italian has improved, taking commendable victories in the Silverstone sprint and Hungarian feature races.

Steiner is keen to see what he can achieve in F1. As is anticipated, the 59-year-old believes Antonelli will be confirmed for 2025 sooner rather than later, and feels it is a good decision to give him a season to bed in prior to the regulations overhaul at the end of next year.

"The beginning of the F2 season this year for him was not too good, we have to see that as well, but the last races, he picked a base up," he says.

"I'm not an expert in F2, but I was told that Prema, which was always the one of the leading teams in the last 10 years in Formula 2, this year with the new car they struggled a little bit in the beginning, that was one of the reasons I was told, but now I think they got a grip of the car as normally Prema gets because they're very good how they're structured.

"So he's doing very well, and let's see what he can do in F1, because I'm with you there... that he will be announced pretty soon that he is in the Mercedes next year.

"I think it goes down to it now that he will be driving a Mercedes. I think for Mercedes it's good. They've got '25, they know what the car is doing so they can evaluate the driver against George [Russell] as well. 

"So they've got a good reference, with a good car and then they can see what they do in '26 when the new regulation comes, when we get a new car... but I think he will be in the car next year.