Mercedes is making Andrea Kimi Antonelli a regular driver in 2025. The young Italian’s first name brings back memories of Kimi Räikkönen – what this is all about
From 2025, Formula 1 will finally have a Kimi again! However, the 2007 world champion Kimi Räikkönen, who is extremely popular with fans, is not making a comeback at the age of 45. Instead, Mercedes has promoted the young Italian Andrea Antonelli to become a regular driver and successor to Lewis Hamilton. Nickname: Kimi!
It feels like the whole paddock only calls the mega-talented driver from Bologna by his second name, because the 18-year-old’s full name is Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Is it a tribute from his motorsport-loving parents (father Marco was a racing driver and team owner himself) to the last Ferrari world champion, Kimi Räikkönen? Attentive fans can already figure it out: hardly, since Kimi Antonelli was born on August 25, 2006, about half a year before Raikkonen even switched from McLaren to Scuderia for the 2007 season – and went on to win the world championship there right away.
Revealed: That’s why Kimi Antonelli is called Kimi
The story behind his name, which has such a ring to it for motorsport fans, is revealed by Antonelli himself in a video on the Mercedes team’s TikTok channel.
When asked what fact most people don’t know about him, he explains: “My middle name, Kimi, is not because of the race car driver, but simply because it goes well with the first name and last name. It was also not given to me by my parents, but by a friend of ours.”
In Mexico, the new Kimi gets to take the wheel of record world champion Hamilton’s silver arrow for the second time in an official Formula 1 session, driving the silver arrow in the first training session. At his only training appearance so far at home in Monza, the Italian had made headlines with fast intermediate times and a crash in the Parabolica on his first flying lap…
On Friday, Antonelli is likely to take it a bit easier in Mexico in order to collect valuable test kilometers for his upcoming debut in the premier class next year.