Kimi Antonelli to drive the 2020 Mercedes in Jerez

Mercedes organized additional mileage for the 18-year-old rookie before his F1 debut, allowing Kimi Antonelli to drive the Silver Arrows’ W11, which won both world championships, during the 2020 season.

This car allowed Lewis Hamilton to achieve his seventh world championship title as a driver, equaling the record, a title that remains his latest in F1, to date.

A program to acclimate to the car

Kimi Antonelli followed a rigorous testing program in preparation for his first F1 campaign, driving several Mercedes cars, including the 2021 and 2022 models, during outings last year. The Italian also drove the 2024 Mercedes car when he made his debut in free practice at Monza, and again during end-of-season tests in Abu Dhabi last month.

But for Kimi Antonelli’s latest outing, which took place in Jerez, Spain, Mercedes chose to entrust him with a much older car, from the regulatory era before ground effects.

This decision stems directly from an update to the F1 sporting regulations regarding Testing Previous Cars (TPC). Previously, F1 teams had no restrictions on the mileage they could carry out with cars that were at least two years old.

However, the regulations were changed for 2025 after Max Verstappen tested the 2022 Red Bull car in Imola before last year’s Spanish Grand Prix to correct the weaknesses of the RB20. Now, F1 teams can only conduct a maximum of 20 TPC days per year, with a limit of 1,000 kilometers for current drivers.

Although Mercedes could theoretically have had Kimi Antonelli out with a 2023 car as part of the TPC, the team deliberately chose not to do so to save valuable test time.

Instead, Kimi Antonelli’s outing will be officially classified as a Historical Car Test (THC), which involves cars designed and built to comply with the Technical Regulations of one of the three calendar years immediately preceding the year before the championship.

This approach allows Mercedes not only to preserve TPC time for later in the year, but also to give the Formula 2 graduate time to reacclimate with F1 cars after the winter break.

Haas is also present in Jerez.

Haas is also present on the Jerez circuit, where the American team is conducting its very first TPC testing program.

Oliver Bearman will drive the 2023 Haas this Wednesday, while his teammate Esteban Ocon will take over on Thursday.

The Toyota junior driver, Ritomo Miyata, will also have the opportunity to take the wheel of the Haas VF-23 at the end of each day.