Future Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli says he leaned a valuable lesson — albeit in a difficult manner — when he crashed during practice at the Italian Grand Prix.
Antonelli was making his debut in an FP1 session at Monza, before being announced as a Mercedes driver in 2025 the following day. His first lap put him at the top of the timing screens but as he was pushing to regain that spot on his second timed effort, he crashed heavily at Parabolica and his track time was over after just 10 minutes.
“Definitely I learned a lesson, unfortunately in a tough way,” Antonelli said. “I learned that I cannot go flat out looking for the limit straight away.
“Looking back, the track was very slippery, the grip was quite a bit lower than expected. So yes, I was pushing too hard, for sure. For the next few times, I will just try to build the run more progressively instead of just trying to find the limit.”
During the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend where he won a Formula 2 feature race for the first time, Antonelli admitted, “I don’t know if I would be ready, to be honest, because I still am learning a lot in F2.” However, after being confirmed as an F1 driver just over a month later, he says Mercedes has been working with him in recent machinery as part of its Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) program to help him prepare.
“Well between that period of time, I’ve been doing some TPCs, and I’ve seen some major improvements,” he said. “I’ve been feeling much better in the car. One of my weakest points, I would say, is the long run, and in the last few TPCs, I’ve been improving that a lot.
“Because I was feeling much better with the car, also with all the procedures, it made me change my mind [about his readiness]. Of course I still have so much to learn, learning how to deal with a full race weekend, and I think [Monza] was the proof! Learning about managing all the procedures, not only on the steering wheel but also starts. So, still so much to learn, but every time I got in the car, I feel so much better.”
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Team principal Toto Wolff says Antonelli’s ability to be so fast from the first lap in a car is something that marks him out as a special talent, but he also believes a tough situation like his rookie faced at Monza is required to ensure he learns quickly.
“I think one of the key ingredients of the really best ones is to hit the ground up and running, and go straight, fast,” Wolff said. “We talked about the F3 test in Silverstone in the rain with some F2 drivers, where on his first flying lap, he was four seconds quicker than the rest. And that bit him [in Monza].
“That’s going to be a valuable lesson, because it’s not about having fun in an F3 car in Silverstone in the rain — this is Formula 1. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with it, for the best car brand in the world, for many thousands of people. And that’s why Kimi learned in a very, very hard way.
“I think that moment must have been very tough and compromised George [Russell] for his day and his weekend, and Kimi knows that. But sometimes, it needs to sting — then it sticks.”