F1’s next data guru? Kimi Antonelli reveals his insane hidden talent

Step aside, Formula 1 race engineers — there’s a new data guru in town!

A new clip from Mercedes-Benz Brazil has emerged showing off one of Kimi Antonelli’s insane hidden talents — remembering his exact lap times from every session he’s ever run!

Kimi Antonelli: Data genius

In a brief video shared by Mercedes Brazil, a Mercedes fan account on X, Kimi Antonelli shows off his stunning ability to recall his lap times in previous sessions off the top of his head with Oliver Bearman and a Prema engineer.

“Melbourne quali,” the engineer says, asking Antonelli to recount the time.

“I did a 29.0,” Antonelli says with complete confidence.

The engineer pulls up the session data on his laptop, and sure enough, Antonelli is right!

“Fastest lap, Silverstone, race one,” the engineer says, continuing the quiz.

Again, Antonelli hits the nail on the head: 2:01.2.

Oliver Bearman even asks Antonelli about his lap times in Formula 4, which the Italian racer remembers easily off the top of his head. He’s able to recall his lap times from both qualifying sessions for that Monza race. Impressive!

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The 17-year-old Italian driver has been pinpointed as a favorite for the open Mercedes seat in 2025, and Antonelli will get behind the wheel of a Merc W13 for a day of testing after the Belgian Grand Prix.

Speaking to select media in Belgium, including PlanetF1.com, Mercedes’ head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin elaborated on some of the logistical headaches that result when testing a previous car (TPC).

“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.”

Antonelli’s performance in the car is certain to impact his future with the team.

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