Kimi Antonelli boosts Mercedes F1 2025 chances with stunning first F2 feature race win

His second victory over the last two rounds, but first in the Formula 2 feature race format, Kimi Antonelli gave his chances of landing the Mercedes F1 2025 seat a major boost in Hungary.

With Mercedes searching for the successor for their seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, team boss Toto Wolff has made no secret of their interest in promoting their Junior Team protégé Antonelli into the Mercedes line-up next season.

Kimi Antonelli secures first F2 feature race win

Mixed form in his rookie F2 campaign has increased speculation over the 17-year-old’s suitability for the Mercedes drive, but he delivered a timely reminder of his credentials by putting the alternate strategy to perfect use in Hungary, winning his first feature race.

This comes off the back of Antonelli claiming his first F2 victory last time out at Silverstone, where he was the class of the sprint race field in wet conditions.

Starting on the hard tyre, the Safety Car triggered by Amaury Cordeel’s crash proved perfect timing for Antonelli, who pitted for softs and after the restart, overtook Dennis Hauger, Enzo Fittipaldi, Gabriel Bortoleto and finally Victor Martins, winning the race by a margin of 12.5 seconds.

“I’m feeling great to be honest,” Antonelli declared, understandably, after the achievement.

“It was a really good race, got a good start, managed to gain a few positions and since the beginning I saw the pace was really strong.

“We were a bit lucky with the Safety Car, but we managed everything really well and I think we really deserved [the win], because the pace was strong today.

“At the start I was a bit concerned, because with the first Safety Car, everyone pitted, but then when the second Safety Car came out, I knew it was my moment, because I had the tyre advantage.

“And I knew I had to overtake, especially in the first few laps, because I had really good grip and so we do, so really happy for that.”

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Antonelli hopes to carry this momentum through the remainder of the season, believing things are turning around after a difficult start.

“It was a really emotional one,” he said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit at the start of the season, but we’re coming back.

“And I think today we really showed what we can do and I’m really proud and happy for the team, because we all deserve this and hopefully we can carry this good momentum into the next few races.”

That win lifted Antonelli to P6 in the 2024 F2 Drivers’ standings.

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