Mercedes deliver fresh Kimi Antonelli update with next event plan revealed

Mercedes’ junior driver Kimi Antonelli will take the wheel of the W13 for a day’s testing at Spa-Francorchamps following the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Italian, who won his second Formula 2 race with a controlled drive at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, is a strong candidate for the vacant cockpit at Mercedes following Lewis Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari.

Mercedes confirm testing day for Kimi Antonelli

Having already had several outings in an older Mercedes machine this season, Antonelli will climb behind the wheel of a 2022 Mercedes W13 for a day’s track action at Spa-Francorchamps.

Speaking to select media, including PlanetF1.com, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Mercedes ‘ head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin confirmed that, despite the logistical headache that arranging such a test includes, Antonelli will be given another day behind the wheel as part of the team’s testing of previous cars (TPC) programme.

“It’s difficult to find opportunities to run a TPC programme because the F1 race calendar is so busy. We haven’t got a whole separate team of people that can do that,” Shovlin said.

“That’s one of the realities of the cost cap is that you haven’t got the test team that you used to have in years gone by and Kimi is pretty busy with his F2 calendar, which,  when you’re in Europe, is quite a focus.

“We’ve got more events planned. We’re doing a day with him here in Spa after the weekend.”

Shovlin also confirmed Antonelli will get further chances as part of the TPC testing programme, all of which add to his growing experience with a Formula 1 machine as the Italian remains the most likely candidate to step into the car for next season.

“Then, we’ve got other events further into the year, but it’s all going well, and the programmes now will drift towards teaching him how you need to refine the approach to qualifying, how you refine the approach to long runs and just trying to get all of that work so he can have a clearer idea of what it is he needs to work on and improve.

“But, it’s all going well. And plenty more events are planned.”

With Mercedes hopeful of convincing Max Verstappen to jump across from Red Bull, Antonelli is otherwise the leading candidate as current Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s negotiations with the team ground to a halt several weeks ago.

Building up a grounding in the handling of a Mercedes F1 car with outings at Imola, Silverstone, and the Red Bull Ring, the Spa day will give the Italian another precious few hours behind the wheel of an almost contemporary Formula 1 car at a time when testing the current cars is almost non-existent.

Kimi Antonelli: I don’t know if I’m ready for F1

Antonelli has had a slow start to life in Formula 2, with the Prema car proving less than stellar this season. With regular points finishes eventually turning into a maiden win with victory in the Sprint race at Silverstone, Antonelli followed this up with his feature race win at the Hungaroring.

But, despite his upward momentum as he’s moved into sixth in the drivers’ standings, Antonelli has admitted he doesn’t quite feel ready for a jump into F1 yet.

“I mean… I don’t know if I will be ready, to be honest,” Antonelli said in the press conference following his Hungary win.

“I’m still learning a lot in F2. Definitely, I still make quite a few mistakes. A few details that really matter, I’m still not doing that right.”

But he’s on the right path, he explained, as he felt his Silverstone win had lightened the load.

“Definitely from Silverstone, I feel way lighter,” said the Italian, “quite a bit less pressure on my shoulders.

“The pressure was building up, weekend by weekend, obviously with all the talking.

“Silverstone was a big relief for me, and this weekend I was driving like my mind was way more free than the previous weekend. I was driving way more natural, without really thinking about the outcome. Just focus on myself.

“And I think it really showed. Even this win, a feature race in the dry, is a big relief and a big result for all of us.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff doesn’t seem too concerned by Antonelli’s admission, saying the data from his F1 outings will do the talking.

“You know that we sometimes forget… remind yourself how you were when you were 17. I clearly can tell you, my lack of maturity would have never allowed me to take the decisions in such a kind of high competitive field,” the Mercedes team principal said.

“What I’d like to see from him is doing mistakes, learning from them, continuing to guide the team in order to improve the performance for for PREMA, tyre management, reading the race, reading the tyre, [as he] has done today, and now we get to see whether he can consolidate it on that level.

“But in F2 it’s always very difficult to adapt, so what we see ourselves is the data of Kimi in Formula 1 testing.”

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