Martin Brundle: Kimi Antonelli ‘luckiest young driver I’ve ever known’ after debut crash

Martin Brundle joked he has never known a young driver as lucky as Kimi Antonelli, considering how Toto Wolff and George Russell reacted after his crash on debut.

Antonelli was announced as Lewis Hamilton’s F1 2025 successor at Monza – Antonelli’s home race – though the announcement came after a far from ideal debut for the 18-year-old, who crashed out early at Parabolica in the opening practice session.

Martin Brundle jokes Kimi Antonelli ‘luckiest young driver I’ve ever known’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was keen to shield Antonelli after that FP1 crash, with Russell also speaking very highly of his future team-mate, this show of kindness amusing Brundle.

With a smile, the Sky F1 pundit said: “He’s the luckiest young driver I think I’ve ever known.

“Because Toto loves him. He’s clearly a very talented young man, but he crashes the car, and Toto is like, ‘Did you see how fast he was before he crashed?’

“I’m trying to think back talking to [ex-F1 team bosses] Ken Tyrrell or Ron Dennis about that.

“And then George, whose car he’s just crashing, goes, ‘He’s the man for the future. I’m really pleased to have him as a team-mate’. They’ve been so kind to him!

“But he is, all joking side, he’s clearly a great talent of the future.”

But delving further into that serious note, Brundle waits to see how Antonelli – who has collected titles at every turn on the karting and junior racing scene – adapts to that leap up to Formula 1.

“But, until the pressure is on, there have been other great karting champions who came into Formula 1 and flunked and lost it,” Brundle continued.

“But this young man’s got so much support, and he’s a very young driver, of course, so he will make mistakes, and they know that, but he can’t make too many like that.”

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Mercedes’ 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg – who knows Antonelli with the Italian having raced for his karting team – believes 2024 has not been ideal for Antonelli in terms of readying him for the step up to F1.

Antonelli skipped Formula 3 completely to stick with Prema in Formula 2 after winning the Formula Regional European title, but his F2 season has not been free of setbacks despite notching up two race wins so far.

The same can be said for the Prema team though, Rosberg arguing Antonelli has not had a “good car” to work with.

“The unfortunate thing is just that his preparation, because of the timing of things, is not optimal, because he doesn’t have a good car in Formula 2,” said Sky F1 pundit Rosberg, “so he’s not able to dominate that as other people, like Lewis Hamilton or so did. So that’s also something that’s not helpful.”

Russell defended Mercedes’ decision to name the inexperienced Antonelli his F1 2025 replacement, making his belief clear that Antonelli has the pace required.

“When I look back to when I was 18 years old there’s obviously so much demand,” he told media including PlanetF1.com in Monza.

“But I think as a driver, you have the speed or you don’t have the speed and I’m very confident Kimi has the speed.

“I think everybody on their journey is going to make mistakes. That’s part of life and part of this sport.

“No doubt Kimi is going to learn from yesterday [his crash during FP1], but he’s definitely got the speed to help Mercedes get back to the front of a grid for the next year onwards and that’s exactly why he’s going to be in the car alongside me next year.

“I’ve always believed that you gain a lot over time with experience in terms of how to deal with a race weekend, the tyres, the team, but I don’t believe I’m any faster today on broad pace than I was when I was 17 years old.

“And I think you’ve either got the speed or you don’t have the speed and Kimi absolutely has the speed.

“He’s proven that in all of his categories, there will be mistakes on the way, as there were for all of us, I think every single driver on the grid in Formula 1 in the first couple of seasons made very visual mistakes, and that’s going to be obviously highlighted more for any driver who’s at the front of the field.

“But Kimi, he’s exceptionally fast. No doubt he’s going to be really keeping me on my toes next year and I’m really looking forward to a new challenge.

“Three years working with Lewis has been exceptional, but [I am] really looking forward to seeing what we can do together from next year onwards.”

Mercedes are striving to recapture the form which restored them as a race-winning force ahead of the F1 2024 summer break, after claiming three wins out of four races. P5 has been their best result since.

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