Antonelli: It’s not possible to replace Lewis Hamilton

Six of the Briton's seven F1 world titles were won with the German team, but in 2025 the 39-year-old is off to Ferrari, and in his place, Mercedes opted for 18-year-old Antonelli. Hamilton's departure leaves George Russell to lead the team and the teenager stepping up to fill the 'big' seat of the 105-time Grand Prix winner.

In an interview with F1.com, Antonelli is under no illusions: “I think it’s not possible to replace Lewis Hamilton. He’s such a great figure in the sport of today, and he has achieved so much in his career, so I don’t want to be seen as his replacement. I’m just the next driver for Mercedes in 2025, so I’m really excited for that."

As for his time with Hamilton in the Mercedes garage, particularly this season, Anntonellu revealed: “He’s a really great guy; he has been giving me some support, so, yeah, really happy.”

"Happy" Antonelli was not after he made his too-brief FP1 debut at Monza on the Friday of the Italian Grand Prix weekend. Over ambitious and too enthusiastic, Antonelli crashed early on in the session, trying too hard to impress on a green and resurfaced track.

It was a much-anticipated debut, which he fluffed. A true baptism of fire for the youngster in front of his home crowd. But he is young. He's entitled to mistakes and will no doubt make a lot more.

Reflecting on his crash during Monza FP1, Antonelli explained how he rebounded from the slip-up: “I think one of the main factors is when you know you have a team like Mercedes around you that really believe in you, and they’ve been believing in me since a very young age."

“They really help you to cope with this pressure very well, and even though sometimes I still don’t cope with that perfectly, I still get the right support from Mercedes but also from my family, so I’m really happy to be with them and really happy with the support they’ve been giving me, not only in the past but also nowadays," explained the Italian.

Next year, when Antonelli steps into Formula 1, there is nowhere to hide as he experienced at Monza. He'll have to shine almost immediately, as his fate will go either the way of an Oscar Piastri or a Logan Sargeant. By all accounts, the former is more than likely.

For now, the Mercedes wunderkind is in Formula 2 and is likely to do a couple of FP1 sessions between now and the end of the season. Antonelli will also be the driver Mercedes will use in the proposed rookie F1 sprint race after the Abu Dhabi GP finale, as well as Young Driver testing.

Antonelli - born in 2006 the year Hamilton was GP2 Series Champion - knows that if he could achieve a sliver of what Hamilton has attained in his remarkable career, then indeed he will have been a worthy replacement. But only time will tell.