Toto Wolff has confirmed Andrea Kimi Antonelli will make his F1 weekend debut at the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.
The Mercedes team principal has elected to put the F2 driver, who turned 18 years old on Sunday at Zandvoort, in for his first FP1 session at Monza.
It is broadly expected Mercedes will also announce Antonelli as a full-time driver for 2025 over the weekend in Italy, with the protégé partnering George Russell and replacing the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.
"We're going to do FP1 with Kimi [Andrea Kimi Antonelli] in Monza," Wolff told media including RacingNews365.
"Which is going to be a really emotional moment, because we followed him since he was 11 [years of age] and a baby go-kart driver.
"To see him drive out on Friday in FP1 in Monza, in front of the Tifosi, having an Italian kid in a competitive car, I think that will be something that everybody in Italy can be very proud of. And then we take it from there."
It is not yet clear if Antonelli will be running in place of Hamilton or Russell, but he will have to dovetail the session with his usual F2 duties for Prema Racing.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and have a chance to win the F1 car of your favourite driver!
SUBSCRIBE & WINMost read
In this article
Join the conversation!