Kimi Antonelli is making Formula One history as rookie – all while finishing school

New York Times

12-04-2025

SAKHIR, Bahrain — In the 75-year history of Formula One, only three drivers have scored a top-six finish in each of their first three races.
Jackie Stewart was the first to achieve the feat when he debuted in 1965, before becoming a three-time world champion. Lewis Hamilton then matched that feat in 2007 — he's now the statistical all-time great with over 100 race wins and seven world titles.
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That exclusive club has now been joined by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, 18, who has made a successful start to life in F1 with Mercedes this year. He finished fourth in the Australia season opener and sixth in both China and Japan — the following two races. He made F1 history in Japan by becoming the youngest driver ever to lead a race and to set a fastest lap, taking both records from Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. All of this has quickly justified his team's decision to put its faith in him as Hamilton's replacement.
Antonelli's impressive adjustment to life in the F1 spotlight is taking place at the same time he goes through another major life experience: finishing his school exams.
It's not a pressure that any other driver on the F1 grid has to handle, given Antonelli's status as the youngest driver on the grid and the youngest to race in F1 since Verstappen debuted at 17 in 2015. But Antonelli's commitment to finishing his studies also sets him apart from many of his peers who dropped out of school entirely to focus on racing.
The exams Antonelli is currently working towards are Italy's 'maturità' diploma, which is the main qualification at the end of secondary qualification or high school, equivalent to A Levels in the UK and similar to SATs or ACTs in the United States. He has completed his studies online through ITCS Gaetano Salvemini school, which has accommodated his sporting career.
Antonelli recently opened up about his studies in an interview with 'The Fast and the Curious' podcast ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, recognizing the importance of completing his final exams.
'I've been doing so many years of school, it would be a shame just to quit in the last year,' Antonelli said. 'Also, my Mum really cares about it. So I will do it for her as well.' Antonelli said his favorite subjects were English and PE, but he dislikes math.
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'You see numbers, and then you get to see just letters in math, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, why am I doing this?'' Antonelli said. 'It's something I have to do, but it's a really difficult subject.'
Although Antonelli's main focus has been on F1, with the completion of his exams being more of a formality this year, Mercedes has adjusted its travel logistics to account for exam sittings that have to happen in person. This includes working out the scheduling around the European triple-header in late May, when Antonelli will fly back and forth between the race locations, the team's factory in the UK and his home in Bologna to get the exams done.
Reflecting on his first three F1 races during a news conference on Thursday ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, Antonelli said he thought they had 'gone pretty well.'
'The thing I was the happiest about is the consistency throughout the three races and (to) keep trying to improve weekend by weekend,' he said.
Antonelli's impressive start to life in F1 hasn't come as any shock to those close to him. Mercedes has been invested in his career since he was in go-karting and always hoped for him to join George Russell (another Mercedes junior driver) in its race team one day, so great was the potential it saw in him. Despite being just 17 when Hamilton announced last February he would be leaving to join Ferrari for 2025, Mercedes did not waver from its plan to put Antonelli in the car.
Mercedes' preparations for Antonelli, including close to 10,000km of private testing, undoubtedly helped his current situation. He also spent a lot of last year getting to know his future engineers, ensuring that when it came to the first race weekends of 2025, everything would feel as seamless as possible and less of a shock compared to the more basic race team setups in Formula Two.
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But Mercedes wouldn't know for certain just how Antonelli would fare until he was put in a real F1 race weekend situation. The fashion in which he has responded to setbacks has deeply impressed the team. In Australia, he was knocked out in Q1 but still managed to finish fourth after nailing the timing to switch tires in tricky conditions of the wet race. While every other rookie slipped up significantly, Antonelli held his nerve to grab a great debut result.
Even more encouraging was his recovery in Japan where, after initially feeling 'lost' with the car around the high-speed Suzuka track in the opening practice sessions, Antonelli found his groove to qualify and finish sixth, securing his first lap-lead in F1 thanks to a stint that also set him up to record the fastest lap in the second half of the race.
'He's done an amazing job, and it's not really been a surprise to me,' Russell said of Antonelli's start. 'It's been great to see some really strong races so far. For us to have two cars that have been up there every single race is good for the championship. Helping one another to get more out of each other has been great as well. It's really good to see.'
Russell outqualified Antonelli by an average of 0.390 seconds for the first three races — a big gap for drivers using the same cars — but Mercedes knew there would be an initial gap, especially with Russell arguably in the form of his F1 career so far. But both drivers have contributed to Mercedes' best — and, importantly, most consistent — start to a season since 2021, with the team seemingly finally on top of its struggles with this generation of cars.
Unlike previous vaunted F1 rookies who have been touted as future superstars, only to struggle to match the hype or continue their impressive junior records, Antonelli has ticked every box so far in 2025. There will be struggles, of course. But Mercedes is encouraged that when those tougher moments do arrive, Antonelli has already displayed the maturity and head-strength to handle anything thrown his way.
And if Antonelli can get through his upcoming finals, particularly that math exam, he'll surely believe it too.
(Top image: Kym Illman / Getty Images)