Lewis Hamilton only had a short-term contract in order to sign Mercedes’ rising star in case
The future of Mercedes in Formula 1 seems promising with the potential arrival of young prodigy Andrea Antonelli. While Lewis Hamilton explores new horizons with Ferrari, Mercedes is keeping a close eye on its future star driver and Toto Wolff has admitted that this situation has clearly prompted Lewis Hamilton to look elsewhere.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli is a young talent who belongs to the Mercedes Junior Team. Seen as a prodigy, he will be in Formula 2 this year even though he has never raced in Formula 3. Toto Wolff revealed that Lewis Hamilton’s contract, signed only in the short term, allowed for some flexibility in case it was necessary to sign Antonelli as a full-time driver at Mercedes.
The situation occurred last year at Alpine. While Oscar Piastri had a contract with Alpine in the junior team, he did not have one in the main team. McLaren was then able to sign the Australian, depriving Alpine of a future gem.
Toto Wolff experienced a similar situation with Max Verstappen a few years ago. In 2014, Dutch driver Max Verstappen could have been part of the Mercedes team. But with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton under contract, Toto Wolff could not guarantee a seat for Verstappen, who then signed with Red Bull.
« There was a situation many years ago where we had the opportunity to let Max drive, » Wolff told the Austrian TV channel ORF. « And it wasn’t possible at the time because we simply didn’t have a cockpit. [Nico] Rosberg and Hamilton were tied to us long term, and Red Bull naturally seized the opportunity. They gave him a contract with Toro Rosso, with the possibility of driving for Red Bull the following year. »
« We then lost the young driver, and you can see how much he has improved. And it is precisely because we have a junior on the horizon who is driving at a very high level that I just wanted to keep this option open. » continued Toto Wolff.
« This does not mean that we will actually put Antonelli in the car next year. He is 17 years old, and it could be a bit too early. But looking ahead to the next five or ten years, I just wanted to have this option.
Lewis Hamilton had been offered a two-season contract with suspension clauses to be able to terminate the contracts from either side depending on performance. This allowed Antonelli to potentially arrive in 2026 but did not necessarily allow Lewis Hamilton to plan for the team.
Aged 17, Antonelli will drive for Prema this season in F2 after winning the Italian F4 Championship in 2022 and the Formula Regional European Championship with the same team last year.
« In a way, he is a child prodigy. He won everything in karting, then moved to F4. He won all the championships in his first year, then moved up a level and won everything there too. » he explains.
« Now, we have decided to skip F3, partly because there is not much time to test there. Instead, he will go straight to F2, which is a huge leap for him. These are really big cars with power. Most races are part of the F1 support program, so we will also have a good overview there. »
To prepare Antonelli, Mercedes has prepared a special program for him with a lot of track time. The objective will be to prepare the Italian driver for 2025 or 2026 while encouraging him to stay within the Mercedes team. Toto Wolff’s dilemma will then be to prefer youth over experience.
