He is set to become the next Formula 1 superstar. A successor to Lewis Hamilton, who is set to take on Max Verstappen. Seventeen-year-old Kimi Antonelli is still driving in Formula 2, but a seat in the premier class is in the offing. Perhaps this season, perhaps from 2025 with the top team Mercedes. The hype surrounding the young talent is enormous, but is it justified? Motorsport expert Christian Danner questions Antonelli’s prodigy status.
“The message to the outside world is that Kimi is the greatest we have seen in the junior field for decades and with Mercedes’ interest, you would think that Verstappen would have no chance against him,” said the former racing driver. “But if you look at the results in a relaxed and sober manner, Kimi is miles away from being sexy and hot in the driving sense.”
After two F4 titles, Antonelli moved up directly to Formula 2 in the 2024 season. However, the Italian is having trouble shining there. He is currently only eighth in the drivers’ standings with 59 points. He is a long way from the title. “That’s why I have to be honest and say that I only understand the hype up to a certain point, because of course he has already set standards in his karting and junior category career,” says Danner.
Kimi Antonelli – Not what you would expect from an F1 contender?
In Silverstone, however, Antonelli managed the great feat for the first time in Formula 2 and won the sprint race. A top result that has not yet been included in Christian Danner’s assessment. Instead, he concludes: “I think we can ask ourselves how good Kimi Antonelli really is. I can’t say that Kimi is amazing. I’m skeptical because what he shows doesn’t correspond to what is normally expected of a man who is making the march towards Formula 1.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff obviously disagrees. After the sprint victory in Silverstone in heavy rain at times, the Austrian praised his protégé: “When you saw Kimi literally run on water on Saturday, with a time that was sometimes two seconds faster than everyone else, you recognize the talent, skills and potential of this young man. The victory in this race has taken a huge weight off his shoulders.”
Consideration: Formula 1 stands in the way of Formula 2
Both Antonelli and his Prema team-mate Oliver Bearman, who has already secured an F1 seat at Haas, are currently not in the top 5 of the Formula 2 championship. There are others competing there who are still miles away from a promotion to the premier class. Is it precisely the missions and tests for the Formula 1 teams that distract Antonelli and Bearman from their actual task?
“That could be true,” estimates Christian Danner. “As I see it at the moment, a Formula 1 car is much easier to drive than a Formula 2 car. Formula 2 is a bit of a bitch because the aerodynamics are not 100 percent balanced, because the tires are nowhere near as good as in Formula 1, and you also have to be very careful about the way you handle the tires. Jumping back and forth, I’ll put it this way, a good one can do it and if someone isn’t quite as good, they just can’t do it.”
The former racing driver has no understanding of the problems that could arise from switching between the two series. “Personally, and this is again my own experience, I always jumped back and forth,” recalls Danner. “I won the Formula 3000 championship in 1985 and also drove my first Grand Prix during the championship. That didn’t bother me and I think a really good racing driver can do it too. What could be so complicated? It’s a racing car.”
Christian Danner: F2 champion should be set for F1
There is a lot of talk about Antonelli and Bearman, but what about Isack Hadjar, who currently leads the F2 championship? Or past champions Felipe Drugovich and Théo Pourchaire? It seems that the F2 title has lost value in recent years when it comes to a place in Formula 1.
“I think the publicity and the standing of the drivers has become more important,” says Danner in the AvD Motorsport magazine. “It used to be different and I have to say quite honestly that the champion of the championship that is directly below Formula 1 should be set. If someone becomes champion, then he can do something and then he should be set for Formula 1. What he then does with it is still up to him, but the champion should drive in Formula 1.”
Hopeless investments: Danner senses danger for junior series
Danner’s wish would ideally be a reality not only for the young drivers, but also for the investors in the junior series. “All the investments, all the money that is invested in such young drivers, regardless of whether it comes from the drivers, the junior academies or the sponsors. They then see that it is worth driving there,” said the motorsport expert.
If that is no longer the case, Danner senses big problems: “If I now have two or three generations where nothing at all comes out of Formula 2, but instead in a mixture of lottery and politics, someone gets a Formula 1 drive and those who win the championship go away empty-handed, then that is a very bad sign for the young talent and for everyone who supports the young talent.”
The ‘no gain for hard work’ model can endanger youth sport in the long term. “Investors say, am I stupid?” Danner explains. “If I finance a career, then I win the championship, what do I get out of it? Nothing. So that’s dangerous and not good. It would be better if the Formula 2 champion simply drove in Formula 1. That’s it.”
You can read about the devaluation of Formula 2 and the question of whether Mercedes would be an option for Max Verstappen in this issue of the AvD Motorsport magazine: