MIAMI, Florida — Every rookie driver in Formula 1 has big shoes to fill, but some shoes are bigger than most.
Like the shoes of a seven-time Drivers’ Champion and one of the sport’s living legends.
But that is the situation that young Kimi Antonelli found himself in when Mercedes named him as the replacement for Lewis Hamilton, when one of the sport’s greatest drivers made the shocking move to Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season. Tasked with stepping into those shoes Antonelli has performed admirably, scoring points over four of the first five race weekends of the 2025 campaign. As the grid arrives in Florida for the Miami Grand Prix, Antonelli sits sixth in the Drivers’ Standings, one spot ahead of the driver he replaced.
The rookie driver credited his growing confidence as a reason for his strong start Thursday in Miami.
“Well, definitely it’s a new track and looks pretty tricky as well. It’s obviously the sprint weekend, so just one practice and then straight into sprint qualifying,” began Antonelli when meeting with the media, including SB Nation, on Thursday.
“So obviously it’s a bit different to what I’ve been used to in Jeddah or Bahrain, but I think because of the fact I’m getting more confidence with the car weekend by weekend, I think it’s gonna be a bit easier to get up to speed, just because I have more confidence in the car and more confidence in pushing it to the limit.”
Antonelli conceded that he is still looking to strike the right balance between getting his laps in and finding the absolute limit of the W16 each race weekend.
“Of course, I’m not still where I want to be in terms of driving and pushing to the limit, but every weekend I feel like I’m making a step forward,” continued Antonelli. “Tomorrow the track, it’s gonna also be quite dirty, so it’s gonna be a quite, I think, unique session. But it’s gonna be really crucial to start off with the right rhythm and build lap by lap, in order to be as great as possible for sprint qualifying.
“Of course, I think it’s not gonna be easy, but I think we can still deliver a good result.”
Antonelli also talked about striking the right balance of aggression. Earlier in the day Oliver Bearman talked about how one of the difficult things he’s found in adjusting to life in F1 is finding exactly where the limits are, and how much he can push the car. Bearman talked about how his year got off to a difficult start in the season-opening race in Australia, and how he had to “learn the hard way” to strike that balance.
Antonelli outlined how he feels the same way.
“Well, I had to learn the hard way as well. “I think you know what I’m talking about,” said the Mercedes rookie, in likely reference to his rookie practice session last year at Monza where he put George Russell’s W15 into the wall on just his second push lap.
“I feel like, you know, this approach is good, but you really need to be careful with also your mindset because if you tell yourself, ‘I’m gonna start easy, just gonna slowly get into the rhythm,’ I think it’s not really the right mindset.
“Of course, you wanna build up, but you wanna start off already with a good level of pushing because if you start too far off, then it’s really hard to catch up.
“So I think it’s important to have the right approach, but really important to have the right mindset as well with how you, you take the session.”
Antonelli then discussed the format of this weekend, which is the second F1 Sprint race of the 2025 campaign. He was asked which format he prefers — the standard race weekend with three practice sessions or an F1 Sprint race with a single practice session before F1 Sprint qualifying — and the Mercedes rookie joked that his answer might depend on the results.
“If it goes bad, I would probably want the normal weekend with all three practice sessions,” began Antonelli with a laugh.
However, he did note that driving in Formula 2, where there was a single practice session before qualifying, has prepared him well for F1 Sprint weekends.
“As I said, you know, last year was always like this. One free practice and then straight into qualifying, and it was always really tough because in F2 we’re going with the harder compound and then in qualifying going with the soft compound without even trying it in free practice. So I think that really helps as well for this sprint weekends,” described Antonelli.
“Of course, driving in F1 is a lot different and it requires more effort and it is more difficult on some sides, but I think F2 prepares you well for this kind of weekend,” continued the Mercedes rookie. “Because, especially it prepares you to actually try to be on the limit, from FP1, which, you know, I didn’t really do it so far this season. But it’s something that I really want to do, from this race onwards, because I think it can really help for, for the rest of the weekend.”
In the end, however, it all comes back to his confidence.
“Yeah, I mean, every weekend I’m more confident in the car, more aware of what the car is capable of, and more aware on setup changes as well,” added Antonelli.
Tomorrow will see the young driver try and gain even more confidence, in the one practice session ahead of F1 Sprint qualifying here in Miami.
SB Nation will be on the ground for the entire Miami Grand Prix, so check our story stream all week long for full coverage!
