The Chinese Grand Prix definitely wasn’t one to be missed on March 15. After an exciting sprint race in which Mercedes once again claimed a 1-2 victory, all eyes were on George Russell for the Grand Prix win, despite issues he experienced in qualifying on Saturday. Mercedes AMG’s young prodigy, and Russell’s teammate, Kimi Andrea Antonelli, however, made it clear he wasn’t backing down when he qualified as the youngest ever F1 polesitter.
The race was a true rollercoaster of emotions, with Antonelli claiming his maiden F1 win with a lead of five seconds over Russell despite losing his lead briefly to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in the opening lap. Only Max Verstappen has won a Grand Prix at a younger age than Antonelli – he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix aged 18 years and 228 days.
The podium was only made better by the presence of Antonelli’s race engineer and Hamilton’s former partner in crime, Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington. Needless to say, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, especially not for Antonelli, who fought back tears in his post-race interview with David Coulthard, struggling for words as he thanked his team and family vehemently for helping him achieve his dream.
Also acknowledging the beauty of the moment, Hamilton said: “To see George come through the sport and then get to Formula 1, and now see Kimi come through and to be able to be here with them, especially as Kimi took my seat. And then Bono, I’ve worked with for so long, so it’s like sitting here with my whole family.”
This achievement has certainly been a long time coming for both Antonelli and his family, who was scouted by Mercedes during an incredibly impressive karting career. He made his car racing debut aged only 15, and quickly secured a range of titles in both the Italian F4 and ADAC series (2022) and the Formula Regional Middle East and European categories just a year later.
Mercedes were so convinced of his star power that they promoted him straight to Formula 2 despite criticism that the pressure would be too much for him. This judgment only continued after he replaced Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2025 shortly after he turned 18.
Team Principal at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, was quick to clap back at Antonelli’s critics in a touching radio message shortly after he secured the win. “He’s too young. We shouldn’t put him in a Mercedes. Put him in a smaller team. He needed experience. Look at the mistakes he makes. Here we go Kimi. Victory!”
Antonelli’s meteoric rise has been a pleasure to witness, and he is definitely one to watch over the coming years. Who knows, maybe he’ll even be world champion by the end of the season.
“2025 Singapore GP – Mercedes – Kimi Antonelli – FP2” by Liauzh is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.