Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will leave the German team at the end of the 2024 season and will be replaced by Kimi Antonelli from 2025 onwards. The 18-year-old has been touted as the next big thing in the sport and has already impressed several team members with his raw speed in the private tests organized for him.
The Italian driver’s first F1 outing occurred in the FP1 session at his home race at the Italian Grand Prix last weekend, where he crashed within 10 minutes after setting the fastest time of the session. However, he managed to impress the Mercedes hierarchy with his ability to get on pace with the car quickly.
But replicating Lewis Hamilton’s rookie season would be difficult for the young Italian, as the British driver set multiple records in his debut season with McLaren in 2007. However, there are some records that Antonelli may challenge next year.
Below is the list of three Lewis Hamilton records that Kimi Antonelli could break in 2025:
#1 Most points scored by a rookie: Lewis Hamilton’s 109
This might be the easiest record for Kimi Antonelli to break as he joins the Mercedes F1 team in 2025, given the German team’s standing at the top of the sport.
Hamilton joined the McLaren F1 team in 2007 and straightaway took to the sport as a duck to water and was able to finish joint second in the championship with his teammate Fernando Alonso, with 109 points.
Since then, the points scoring system has changed at the beginning of the 2010 season and F1 has added more races to the calendar, which might allow the Italian to get past this record.
#2 Most wins by a rookie: 4
This is a record shared by Lewis Hamilton and Jaques Villeneuve, who won four races in their rookie seasons. Given Mercedes’ revival in the 2024 season, where they have already won three races, there is a good chance that the German team might improve their tally for the 2025 season and find themselves in title contention.
If Antonelli settles himself with the W16 next year and with 24 races, he might take multiple race wins and possibly break Hamilton and Villeneuve’s record.
#3 Most pole positions by a rookie: 6
This record might be the toughest for Kimi Antonelli to overhaul, as he would have to top the timing sheets for a quarter of the races next year. But the 18-year-old has shown in his F2 campaign that he has the pace over one lap against his Prema Racing teammate and future Haas F1 driver Oliver Bearman.
The Italian has set some impressive lap times in qualifying and leads Bearman by 7-4 after one lap. But, considering the raw speed he demonstrated in his first few laps of the FP1 session at Monza, Antonelli could be the driver to watch.