Kimi Antonelli came into the spotlight earlier this year when he was rumored to be Mercedes’ pick to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton next season. The Silver Arrows officially confirmed the 18-year-old as their 2025 driver during the Italian GP weekend.

However, Antonelli admitted that he is still learning to deal with the pressure in F1.

The Italian prodigy highlighted that Mercedes’ faith in him has played a great role in helping him deal with pressure. Kimi Antonelli pointed out that the Brackley-based squad has supported him from a young age.

I think one of the main factors [in dealing with pressure] 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.

Kimi Antonelli told F1

Moreover, Antonelli insisted that the Silver Arrows make him understand how a driver needs to deal to cope with pressure. Although, the 18-year-old confessed that he still has trouble coping with the pressure even today. Kimi Antonelli had crashed the W15 during his debut FP1 outing for Mercedes in Monza.

Kimi Antonelli admits ‘impossible’ to replace Lewis Hamilton

The 18-year-old will face the big challenge of filling in the huge shoes of Lewis Hamilton at Brackley next season. Kimi Antonelli asserted that its simply not possible to ever truly replace the seven-time world champion. As such, the Italian did not want people to see him as a replacement for Hamilton, but rather as just the Mercedes driver for 2025.

Certainly, Kimi Antonelli will have a challenging debut F1 season next season. The 18-year-old will likely make a few mistakes as a rookie. However, Mercedes has made it clear that it does expect a few errors from the Italian next year. It remains to be seen how things pan out for Antonelli and the Silver Arrows in 2025.