Marko calls out Mercedes’ “big risk” – There’s no love lost between the senior management at Mercedes AMG F1 and Red Bull Racing following the epic struggle of 2021, which saw Max Verstappen halt Lewis Hamilton’s march to an unprecedented eighth Formula One drivers’ championship.
Since the dramatic last lap, last race of the year decider, it has been Red Bull who have taken the Mercedes’ mantle of dominance with Max Verstappen leading the charge. Red Bull without their talisman could easily have been only fourth in the constructors’ title race for 2024, behind their arch rivals and the troubled Lewis Hamilton.
Now with Hamilton having left for Ferrari, Mercedes are themselves attempting to do a ‘Red Bull,’ by promoting their highly regarded academy driver alongside George Russell for the upcoming campaign of 2025.
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Kimi Antonelli is set to fill the seat of the seven times world champion and rarely has there been such hype over a rookie driver who has not yet completed a Grand Prix weekend behind the wheel of a Formula One car.
The Italian rising star won everything there was to win in his karting days and like Verstappen will have minimal international single seater experience by the time he steps into the Mercedes 2025 W16. His single year in International junior Formula saw him win two F2 races and finish sixth in the driver standings but from a purely results basis of analysis there is little to suggest Antonelli’s F1 introduction will be a raging success.
When the latest contract negotiations were undertaken, Mercedes refused to sign Lewis Hamilton for more than a guaranteed single season and within weeks suffered the ignominy of their star driver seeking employment elsewhere on the grid. This exposed the Mercedes continuity plan to be relatively threadbare with just Kimi Antonelli waiting in the wings.
Mercedes did have options, but Carlos Sainz refused to join the team on a one year deal while Mercedes gave Antonelli another year to garner experience and mature. Whilst highly praised for his work in the simulator this season, Mercedes were not prepared to commit a single season to reserve driver Mick Schumacher, whose F1 career looks to be pretty much finished.
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So it is Antonelli who the F1 world’s eyes will be fixated upon come testing in Bahrain. as a rookie joins a top team for the first time in decades of F1 history. Lewis Hamilton was the last such experiment undertaken by McLaren when he joined the team alongside double world champion, Fernando Alonso, way back in 2007.
The F1 grid will be complete with 25% of the drivers being rookies in 2025 and of the five new drivers to the sport, Pablo Montoya believes Antonelli to be under the biggest pressure. Montoya replaced the current world champion Damon Hill at Williams in 1997, in what was a shock move from Frank Williams and is no stranger to life in the fast lane of motorsports.
The Columbian believes of the five new drivers, Oliver Bearman will end the season with the title of ‘rookie of the year,’ meanwhile it may be a struggle for Kimi Antonelli to find his way in the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Kimi is in an awful situation because the opportunity is amazing, but the hype around him, the way the team built him up to justify that he’s replacing Lewis [Hamilton] as the next great thing,” said Montoya. “He is either going to be a massive star, or he’s going to be a tough thing to watch. And you’re going against, right now, a very complete George.”
Marko claims Antonelli in a top team “a risk”
George Russell annihilated his seven times world champion team mate in 2024 and despite the 32 point swing in Hamilton’s favour when Russell was disqualified for his car being overweight in Belgium, he finished 22 points ahead of the once best F1 driver in the world. Yet Russell himself may be feeling somewhat exposed given his current Mercedes’ deal expires at the end of this season.
Speaking with sport.de this week, Dr. Helmut Marko sees the similarities between Antonelli and Verstappen’s career development, but with one significant difference. “Antonelli is a risk, but we took that risk as well with Verstappen back then; he was also young when he stepped into the car.” Yet Red Bull are the only company who owns two F1 racing teams, something Marko went on to note.
”But Max wasn’t in a top team, so he had less pressure.” Marko said reflecting on Verstappen’s introduction to F1 via the Toro Rosso team. Further, the Austrian Red Bull advisor believes Antonelli has already shown he is under pressure following his outing in Monza during the free practice one session at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.
Driving George Russell’s car F2 racer Antonelli demonstrated some eye catching pace before less than ten minutes into his F1 debut he put the W15 into the wall at the final corner. He dropped the rear on entry into the Parabolica, slid across the track and through the gravel, and then slammed into the barriers, causing a huge amount of damage and leaving the Mercedes mechanics with significant work to do before FP2.
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”We saw in Monza, where I don’t understand why they put him in there, he was very fast in the first three turns. In the fourth, he went into the wall. So if he uses his strength, which he has, he could be a danger for Russell,” observed Dr. Marko.
George Russell has six years F1 experience which should be enough to keep his junior team mate in his place. Yet with no deal taking him into the next big rule change era in 2026, Russell will be out to ensure he gives his young team mate an education.
When Kimi Antonelli makes his official Grand Prix debut, he will be 18 years and seven months old. Only two drivers have been younger than him at the time of their debut; Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll. Yet when Verstappen and Stroll joined the grid they were at smaller teams, unlike as is the case for Kimi Antonelli.
Whilst Mercedes claim their young protege has time to settle into his new role, the external pressure from the F1 paddock will be huge as Formula One looks on at the kid who Mercedes believe to be the next Max Verstappen.
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With little time to familiarise himself with the Williams car, Colapinto was predictably out of qualifying in the first session. Yet his race pace was good and the Argentinian made his way through the field to finish a creditable twelfth ahead of the likes of experienced drivers like Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
