Recommendation for Wolff?
Hamilton on his legacy: “I would take Kimi”
Record Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton can well imagine teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli as his successor at Mercedes. Although he does not know what team boss Toto Wolff's plans are, the Englishman admitted on the sidelines of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola. "But if it was my job, if it was my role, then I would probably take Kimi."
Hamilton is leaving Mercedes at the end of this season to drive for Ferrari in the future. Wolff has not yet made a decision on his successor. However, his preferred driver alongside George Russell would be world champion Max Verstappen from Red Bull. "Perhaps he is drawing parallels with his time when he got his chance at McLaren," Wolff said on Sky TV about Hamilton's statement. McLaren helped Hamilton, now a seven-time world champion, make his Formula 1 debut in 2007.
"Very good so far"
Wolff praised Antonelli. The 17-year-old skipped Formula 3 and is currently racing in Formula 2. The Italian from the Mercedes junior squad has also tested old Silver Arrows. "He's done very well so far, even though it's a huge leap into the deep end," said Wolff. "We've seen in the tests: He can do it. With the good ones, you can see that they don't need long to get up to speed."
Mercedes technical director James Allison went into raptures about Antonelli. "I had the pleasure of listening to the engineers describe their interaction with him. He is a young, enthusiastic rider who is very fast and sets a pace like a metronome," explained Allison. Antonelli was therefore able to deliver exact lap times, as previously discussed.
"Very promising"
"He hadn't been in a Formula 1 car until recently, but within one or two laps it looked like he'd been in one forever," said Allison about the latest tests with Antonelli. "He tells us exactly what he sees as weaknesses and strengths and lets the engineers work on improving those things." Antonelli appears to be a "very promising young rider".
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