My biggest concern with this is some people are going to expect Antonelli to start performing immediately if he takes that Mercedes seat for 2025. He's jumped from F4 to F2 and hasn't even won an F2 race yet, is he really going to be ready for F1? He's a special talent, he needs pacing carefully, not dragged through the junior categories because Toto is too scared to lose him!

It must be so sad for Drugovich and Pourchaire to get completely forgotten and not be an option by any team

Good guys Mercedes. Building a shitbox so Antonelli can debut without too much pressure.

Antonelli isn't ready. He's in his first F2 season and is running 9th with no podiums or wins. That's not *bad*, and it's only been a few races, but still. If he doesn't finish this F2 season in the top 3 there's no way he's ready, and that doesn't really look like it's happening. Even if he does and he is though, that's hardly a silver bullet. There's a lot more wrong with Mercedes right now than their driver line-up. Yes, they need two drivers with good pace, but what they need even more is two drivers who have excellent leadership skills and provide excellent feedback to help the team get on top of its correlation issues and inconsistencies. Signing a rookie, even a very promising one, doesn't really sound like the best way of addressing their problems IMO.

James Vowles has already said he wouldn't do a driver switch mid season, but these media clowns keep pushing it like he said the opposite.

I would say, not ready, you can destroy a driver faster.

It’s honestly annoying hearing the overhyping on Antonelli

Let's not forget that as sensational Max has been right from the start, it took him 3 years to sufficiently mature as an F1 driver. And Max was known to be already very mature for his age back then. So even if you put Antonelli in a Mercedes next year you likely won't get a top-level consistent driver out of him before 2028. Heck, even an exceptional talent like Piastri needs his time to grow in F1. Therefore, expectations around Antonelli should be set accordingly but social media and the press won't have any of that of course. Which puts insane pressure on him. Something Max could deal with extremely well but should not be seen as a given. At all.

Max started in AT/ RB though. Yes, he quickly moved up, but the sister team is far lower pressure. Max didn't have to even think about the pressures of winning right away, yet with Mercedes will want podiums asap.

Odd how Toto used to really talk up Mick Schumacher, while podcasts and pundits nodded along like faithful disciples, but now there's a seat available, he's not even mentioned........

toto wolf has no idea what he's doing lmao.

Mercedes is NOT the juggernaut that they once were. Antonelli is not the silver bullet, and all this media attention and pressure is going to sink his career before it starts. Even if he is a great driver, he isn’t ready.

Not sure how anyone can seriously believe Verstappen to Mercedes is a serious possibility. Not when Mercedes are fielding the 5th fastest car. They're a midfield team right now and they haven't actually shown us evidence they can change that. I think the only realistic options for a Verstappen move are Ferrari / McLaren

I don’t understand why they’d be looking at their not ready driver with Sainz just sitting out there. Insanity

As long as mercedes keeps showing that they really dont understand the ground effect regulations it won't matter how good the driver they'll sign is.

Poor kid is getting overhyped a bit by the media right now. You can tell now much is going on and UKpostsrs need content because we won't know until much much later in the season

Give him another year in Formula 2!

Why are we continuing to talk about Max leaving Red Bull when he is under contract for four more years?

Even Verstappen needed some years of polishing at Toro Rosso. It would be a bad move for Mercedes and Antonelli

I am 100% in favor of giving new young hot shoes a chance. Sure, you'll get more misses than hits, but you'll never find the next great thing if you keep bringing back the likes of Hulkenbergs and Magnussens. Drugovich needs to be racing. Liam Lawson needs to be driving.

Oh great we’re doing the “anointing every single young driver with a shred of talent as the next Max Verstappen” thing again?! Awesome I love that

Let's get him on the grid first before we compare him to a 3 time world champion who currently drives the fastest car. You guys take 'speculation' to a completely new level...

Mercedes is forgetting the key principle of HAVING A GOOD CAR. Even if they had THE Verstappen, he wouldn't be winning championships in the W13/14/15. And he would be trying to find the better team to pivot to. They need to focus on the CAR, something they are failing quite badly at.

Just give Mick the 2025 seat and see how he performs against Russell in the latter part of the season. If he has no chance against him I think he wouldn't cause problems if he would be replaced by Antonelli in 2026 right away. I doubt Antonelli would "betray" Mercedes if he wouldn't get the 2025 seat, especially if he is guaranteed the 2026 seat pretty much. Mick will know the car better than anyone else but Russell.

he has potential but not sure if he's ready yet he needs another year in F2

From what I've seen of the lad so far in F2, I fear having him in F1 in 2025 would be bad for him.

It seems somewhat premature but on the other hand if they go for Max (very unlikely) or Carlos, they would never sign for less than 3/4 years and that would leave Antonelli waiting forever on a lesser team. There's always George's seat but it's not likely he'll leave the team anytime soon.

Would be crazy if Red Bull somehow snatch Antonelli away from Merc

What does it mean at 6:17 "...after Prema made a big step forward with its cars..."? Since all F2 cars are the same, does this mean car-setups like wing angle, ride height, suspension settings, etc?

never in my life did i think id see myself in an official "The Race" youtube video.... 6:45 just in the background :))

funny how thet are not backing Schumi....when they(Toto) criticised Guenther's decision to remove him

"The shock departure was not anticipated by Mercedes" - that would be a very poor decision if it were true. Succession plans should be in place for all major staff

I dont see Antonelli joining Mercedes as he lacks experience in F1, but I do see him replacing Sargeant in Williams. Albon is crashing all the time and Carlos might replace Checo at RB.

lol, russell going to love that after toto made him sit in a Williams for 3 years before he was 'ready' for a Mercedes seat (which is the correct approach)

Think it's insane to think Max would leave RB, the current best team, for what is now a midfield team, Mercedes. I highly doubt the Horner situation is as problematic as people paint it out to be and beyond a conversation or a meeting about it, I imagine it barely has any impact on his time at RB. Also would be difficult to imagine that a top team like Merc would sign a rookie a few years ago, but they're not really a top team anymore so there is no real need for Antonelli to instantly be competitive as they won't be fighting for a WCC, so it's a good time for him to come into the team and be setup for '26 in the hopes they'll be competitive again.

I think people oversee the actual f2 contenders that are very good drivers, Maloney and Aron are fast and up to now decently consistent

7:25 Russell is the best meme😂😂😂

Ah, to see the look on Toto's face when this backfires 😁

I don't get the hype personally, yeah he's good but he ain't really shown much in F2 so far, only 2 races in though, but it all just feels way too premature, as if they're desperate to get a Verstappen to solve all their problems, overlooking he ain't actually a Verstappen

This should be fun.

Would make no sense. Alexander Albon would be next in line. And the new Rookie *minimal* 1 year at team Williams. General complain is that F2 talent gets barley adopted in F1 by midfield teams for years.

Esteban for Merc and Antonelli for Williams in 2025.

Antonelli still looks like he's 12. I feel old.

Idk why people are saying they should go for a more proven driver. Mercedes will NOT be fighting for championships in 2025 and they know it, why send Antonelli to williams or wait for a season until he wins F2 if they can simply take him now and use 2025 as a guarantee he'll hit the ground running in 26?

This would be an amazing situation

Antonelli needs more time in F2

It does a driver the world of good to spend their first year in a lower-grid team where there's far less pressure to succeed. People seem to forget that Verstappen drove for Toro Rosso/RB for the whole of 2015 before being promoted in 2016 after 5 races. Antonelli should be a Williams driver next year on behalf of Mercedes. Alonso would probably take a 1 year Mercedes seat as he's unsure how long he's going to continue. And if he does a number on Russell then there may be the possibility to stay beyond, instead of George (who I've noticed a lot of people don't like for some reason).

I think it would be wiser to promote a more experienced F1 driver and put Antonelli on Williams. Albon, Tsunoda, Sainz, 3 great options.

I am waiting for Antonelli to compete at the European tracks before judging his performances. So far he has done decently, being quite on par with Bearman. He is much more familiar with the European tracks so think he can truly prove himself then.

If Red Bull doesn’t sign Sainz than it would be a shame. Sainz at the lower half of the grid would be a shame of his talent and his intellect.

Wolff's obsession with MV is driving all this nonsense. This Antonelli lad is nowhere near ready and has achieved almost nothing because he's only just out of short trousers.....and what a kick in the nuts for Russell. Merc obviously don't rate him, despite Russell handing Hamilton's arse back to him most weekends. Merc delayed a year too long bringing him over for Williams (yeah, understood Hamilton blocked the move) but it's been wasted year after waster year for Russell since joining F1. He needs to leave for Aston or RB, if it comes up, which of course, it won't.

I think albon should go to Merc and Antonelli should go to Williams

1:18 looks like Senna

I feel like Russel would be pissed since he had to wait for years before getting the Merc drive

Sainz to Mercedes. Antonelli to Williams to replace Sargent.

What’s Toto keep Mick at Mercedes for then 😅… there’s even no whispers of him replacing Logan at Williams… damn

This is a good criticism of that former Alpine CEO not wanting to put a rookie Piastri in their car then, they are not and won't be title contenders unless they get the new regulations right, which I doubt

They won't put a rookie in a merc. Like Russell, he'll be put into another team, probably replace sergeant before replacing hamilton. Every driver in f1 were in prior categories. Didn't mean they got into a top team straight away.

Lets wait and see how it will go, though the max comparison won't help the young lad!!

Independent teams serving others is a past thing, & Williams has priorities elsewhere. Besides, they wouldn't really even benefit from taking a temporary rookie, especially if his minimal single-seater experience caused him to excessively hold the team back. Even if they let Sargeant go, they'd more likely offer someone with vast F1 racing experience, like Bottas, if his time at Team Hinwill ends. Continuing in F2 for a second year (assuming he doesn't win the championship) in any case would be the wisest move rather than unnecessarily rushing things & risking unintended consequences caused by not being wholly ready mentally, so he shouldn't be in any 2025 considerations in the first place. He has plenty of time to race in F1 anyway, even if that doesn't happen next year, so rushing with things is pointless. However, I agree that the fact next season will have entirely stable technical regs & Mercedes is unlikely to compete for the championship minimizes the risks involved with effectively having a learning season (even though drivers normally shouldn't go to the highest level to 'learn' anymore, but only when wholly ready), while a team lower down the field would definitely get inconvenienced by such a scenario against closest rivals with a wholly stable driver pairing. As a side note, while 18 is the minimum age limit for obtaining a super license & thus racing in F1, practice session running is okay even without a valid super license since many drivers have done so before they eventually became eligible for one.

Mercedes could do shock chance for Antonelli to drive an actual race like Bearman.

The problem for Antonelli is that he is going to drive a decent w16/ then immediately into a new aero/ engine regs car. And from what the teams are saying the 2026 regs are terrible. So even if he is super talented, it will be hard to show

The kid literally looks like a kid.... Idk, it seems like a crazy gamble indeed, far more options for quick adaptation time and high level performance. But... Let's live to see

I think the big thing not mentioned is that Merc clearly rate Russell not only as a team leader but good enough to be defacto no 1. They'll take someone better but only if they are clearly good drivers

That will have George worried

don't think he ready, and George needs another strong driver next to him. problem with George is that he always trying to alter the strategy in each race and man will he ever take responsibility whenever he does a bad move on the trrack...

Toto should wait until 2026 and allow Kimi to prove he's really worth the hype by being a serious contender in F2 (which he isn't right now).

If Toto wants a young driver go with Drugovich and loan him from AMR for 1-2 years. Antonelli is too young for Merc, get him that Williams seat for next year when Logan gets the boot instead. He will get crushed by the immense pressure at Merc. Even Toto seems to be struggling with it since Tommy Hilfiger is pulling out and Im guessing the FTX thing really hurt them too

I think all this hype is hilarious. Max was such a huge force everyone thinks they know who the next Max is going to be. Bearman has beat Kimi every time they've raced so far. Don't get me wrong, he could have what it takes, but how many other drivers have we seen with the same promise only to have them flounder in F1. Please just calm the heck down and stop overhyping these teenagers. You're just throwing more pressure on these kids. I'll reserve judgement until he's actually in an F1 qualifying. There's a huge difference between junior categories and real F1.

They shouldn't get a rookie on until they get their car right so I think vettel or alonso will be good for them (yes I know they ain't making decisions by checking my comment)

I don’t think he will be in the car next year. It seems really quick and Wolff doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who rushes decisions.

I would put him in the team knowing FULL WELL its a 3 to 5 year project. Especially when Merc might not be competitive next season. Atleast he gets a season to get used to F-1. Have always wondered what if Hamilton got to drive in 2006 (a year earlier). Even he was not consistent by 2011 - 2012

I think the best route would be to go for Fernando for a year, maybe two (maybe even Sainz) and have Kimi drive for Williams for a bit. They'd be happy to have him replace Sargent surely?

The fact that Mercedes is even considering doing that shows a lot as far as how desperate Mercedes is... Can't they send him to Williams to replace Sargeant? Even Max was sent at Toro Rosso first. Even Charles was sent to Sauber? Is Mercedes really that weak politically?

Vesti is their best option. Atleast give him the seat while you let the "super" prospects mature a bit in F2.

We'll see later this year...

This is daft. He's 17. It's such an extrapolation from teenage prodigy to F1 World Champion. Verstappen became F1 World Champion in his 7th season in F1. But then maybe that's a deliberate way to manage expectations in the short to medium term when the cars aren't super competitive.

The Mercedes team should swap GR (the teams weakest link) with Antonelli & recruit an experienced 'race winner' to re establish the Mercedes teams F1 competitiveness.

I guess my concern for Mercedes is that most strong teams (regardless of what they say outwardly) have a number one and a number two driver. George Russel has been the heir apparent for quite a long time cutting his teeth with Williams as a back marker and has been consistently showing himself to be the quicker Mercedes driver over the last two years. If he has done all this work over the years with Williams and as Hamilton's understudy.... and then sees Mercedes promote Antonelli directly into their top car rather than moving him into the Williams car and perhaps bringing Alex Albon into the top car.... I would see that as a signal that the team is putting their future in Antonelli's hands and that could destabilize the team from George's side of the garage. George Russell does not have the personality to play the team game if he thinks he's getting the slower strategy. Seems to me that moving Antonelli into the Williams for development and moving Alex Albon into the factory car makes more sense.

What place in F2 Antonelli should be enough to get superlicence?

He is just as good as merc hypes their cars at the beginning of the season for the last couple of years. Antonelli and Bearman are just the new Piastri or Norris. Good, but not generational.

"Mercedes are being very carful not to talk about Antonelli and pile pressure on his shoulders...so we will do it instead"

stroll (rolling)😅

Question is; does he have ice running through his veins like a Piastri. That kid actually is too cool for school. F1's future is bright with all these young prodigies, however they make me appreciate Alonso all the more...the last of the v10 class.

Why don't they give mick the seat for a season, or was bringing him in just a marketing stunt?

Mercedes have become a midfield team. I don't think they're the ones deciding to reject Alonso or Sainz. These two drivers will much rather find a seat at RB or AM

Poor Mick

I believe Antonelli is possess a natural talent which you cannot teach to someone. This guy is special imo and will deliver for merc. So I believe it is time to promote him to merc seat in 2025.

I am just wondering, what happened to Schumacher? Wasn't he a Mercedes reserve driver and first in line?

As great as it would be to see Vettel back and battling it out with Verstappen, Alonso, and Hamilton it’ll never happen.

It’s better to take a chance with hulk/ tsunoda for a year while you give Kimi more time to learn and improve and integrate more with the Mercedes f1 team as their third driver.

There's no way they move him up to Mercedes without at least a year at Williams or something first.

Question: Antonelli should have 37 super license points (12 for winning F4 in 2022 and 25 for winning FRECA in 2023). What will happen if he doesn't finish in the top 10 in F2 and scores no super license points in 2024? The Race seems to assume he already has the 40 points to drive in F1. Is it the case?

Mercedes is really lucky to get opportunity to hire Carlos, based on his performance he is one of the best. Unless Toto is getting Nico-Lewis flashbacks.

Nonesense. He isnt anywhere near ready. Sainz is the clear choice to partner Russell.

It's amazing the he qualifies for a super licence despite not even racing in F3. Putting him in F1 in 2025 is madness imo.

Antonelli has been so hyped but so far not delivered. Quite funny as the biggest hypeman of them all for Kimi is Toto...and now he claims he's not hyping him. Lol

All due respect, but Oscar Piastri is the next Max Verstappen. He is the winner of 3 different categories in a row. I think that has got to have more weight than just a X number of race wins in the a season.

What, no. Merc should hire Sainz while developing Antonelli. He is way too raw and immature still.

Looking forward to Kimi Antonelli kicking Russels butt.