Antonelli to replace Hamilton

Young Italian driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli will join George Russell as a driver for the Mercedes-Benz AMG Formula 1 team in 2025.

Already widely rumored for the previous month, Mercedes officially announced the decision this week.

The 18-year-old Antonelli will fill the seat of seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who will move to Ferrari next year. Hamilton won six titles with Mercedes, but the team's poor results in recent years prompted his decision to make the move.

Hamilton will fill Carlos Sainz's seat at Ferrari. Initially, Sainz was linked with a move to Mercedes or even Sauber, which will become Audi in 2026, but in July he was confirmed to drive for Williams, replacing Spanish driver Logan Sergeant.

Antonelli has been part of Mercedes' driver development program and has had multiple successes in the ADAC and Italian F4 championships in 2022 and the highly competitive Formula Regional European Championship in 2023. This year, he also scored a victory in F2.

According to Mercedes, the young driver has shown impressive speed and made his first F1 appearance in the practice session of last weekend's Italian Grand Prix. However, he crashed shortly after the start of the session.

Antonelli is not the only driver who will be on the grid next season. Australian Jack Doohan will join Williams and Briton Oliver Bearman will join Haas.

Sauber and RB each have vacancies.