Antonelli: Saying I'm replacing Hamilton isn't really correct

Mercedes decided to go on with the next generation to fill the seat Hamilton vacated following his move to Ferrari and accelerated the promotion of Antonelli into the top flight after the youngster spent one season in Formula 2.

And while many are skeptical about Antonelli's performance in his debut F1 season, many claiming he lacks the experience to deal with the pressure that brings, the Italian has been making the right statements ever since his promotion.

Being compared to Hamilton has been inevitable, but during Mercedes' event where they launched their new partnership with Adidas last week, Antonelli commented: "I feel like I'm just a new Mercedes driver.

"Saying that I'm replacing Lewis Hamilton I don't think is really correct because he's such a big figure in the sport, and he has done so much.

"I feel like I'm just the next Mercedes driver and really want to make my way and achieve great results and be successful," he maintained.

Looking ahead to his rookie F1 season, Antonelli continued: "It's not going to be easy because my first year in F1, at the end of the day, I'm racing against the 19 best drivers in the world.

"And of course the world of motorsport, F1 especially, can be very brutal sometimes. But the thing is, I'm just going to try to stay focused on myself, try to work day by day, weekend by weekend, trying to improve myself," he added.

However, that does not mean the young Italian will not be aiming for wins, he went on: "Of course, the mindset is going to be the one of trying to go on track and win, and then we'll see.

"I have good people around me that, especially in these moments, they really try to help me to ignore all the external things and always be focused on the moment," Antonelli concluded.

Antonelli finished the 2024 F2 season sixth in the standings and had two wins to his name: the Sprint Race in Silverstone and the Feature Race in Hungary.