Road to Formula 1

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was born on 25 August 2006 in Bologna. His father Marco is a former racer who runs his own team, Antonelli Motorsport, and that is where Kimi started out in karting at the age of seven. He won his first karting title in 2015, and in April 2019, aged 12, he joined the Mercedes junior programme.

In 2019 he won the WSK Euro Series and the WSK Super Master Series in the OK-Junior class. In 2020 he stepped up to the OK class, became FIA European karting champion and won the WSK Euro Series again. In 2021 he defended his European title.

Junior single-seaters

His first car races came in 2021 in Italian Formula 4 and UAE Formula 4 with Prema. In 2022 he won two championships at once — Italian Formula 4 and Germany’s ADAC Formula 4. In 2023 he took the Formula Regional Middle East title and then the Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA): five wins, with the title sealed at Zandvoort with one round to spare.

He skipped Formula 3 altogether and went straight into Formula 2 with Prema in 2024. He won the sprint at Silverstone in the rain and the feature race at the Hungaroring, becoming the youngest driver in the series’ history with more than one win. He finished the season sixth in the standings.

A seat at Mercedes

His first World Championship practice session came on 30 August 2024 at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza — and within the first 10 minutes he crashed the car at the Parabolica. The next day, 31 August 2024, Mercedes announced that in 2025 he would take the seat of Lewis Hamilton, who was leaving for Ferrari, and partner George Russell. He was 18.

Debut and first season

He made his debut at the Australian Grand Prix on 16 March 2025, starting 16th and finishing fourth, and became the third-youngest driver ever to start a Grand Prix. At the Japanese Grand Prix on 6 April 2025 he led the race for a spell and set the fastest lap — the youngest driver in the championship’s history to lead a race and to set a fastest lap; he finished sixth.

In Miami on 2 May 2025 he topped sprint qualifying — his first career pole, which made him the youngest pole-sitter in any format. His first podium came at the Canadian Grand Prix on 15 June 2025, where he finished third. Late in the season he made the podium at two rounds in a row: second at the São Paulo Grand Prix on 9 November and third in Las Vegas on 22 November 2025, where he fought his way up from 17th on the grid. He finished the 2025 championship seventh, and Mercedes took second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

2026 season

He began the 2026 season — the first under the new technical regulations, with active aerodynamics and power units that draw around half their output from the electrical side — with second place at the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March. At the Chinese Grand Prix on 14 March 2026 he took his first Grand Prix pole and became the youngest pole-sitter in the championship’s history, beating Sebastian Vettel’s record from 2008. On 15 March he won the race — his first career win, the second-youngest in history and the first Grand Prix win by an Italian since Giancarlo Fisichella in Malaysia in 2006.

Victory at the Japanese Grand Prix on 29 March 2026 put him at the top of the Drivers’ Championship — the youngest leader in the championship’s history. He went on to win in Miami on 3 May, Canada on 24 May, Monaco on 7 June and Belgium on 19 July. On 4 July 2026 he won the sprint at the British Grand Prix — the first sprint win of his career.

At his home Italian Grand Prix on 6 September 2026 he started 19th because of a power unit penalty and still won — the first Italian to win at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. A week later, on 13 September, he won the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring in Madrid.