BIOGRAPHY
Kimi began karting aged 7 and it was the following year, after attending a summer camp with the Automobile Club d'Italia in 2014, that he was spotted by Giovanni Minardi, who signed him to Minardi Management.
His first title came in the 2015 Trofeo Easykart Italia (60 cc class), going on to win the Easykart International Grand Final that year from twenty-second on the grid.
In 2016, now 10, he finished 3rd in the Italian Cup (60 Mini) and Trofeo Industrie (60 Mini), while in 2017 he was third in the WSK Super Master Series (60 Min)
2018 witnessed success in the WSK Champions Cup (60 Mini), South Garda Winter Cup (Mini ROK) and ROK Cup International Final (Mini ROK), whilst also finishing runner-up in the Italian Championship.
Racing for the Rosberg Racing Academy, in 2019 Kimi, now part of the prestigious Mercedes Junior Team, won the South Garda Winter Cup (OK-J), the WSK Super Master Series (OK-J), the WSK Euro Series (OK-J), the WSK Open Cup (OK-J) and WSK Final Cup (OK-J).
The wins continued in 2020 and 2021, including back-to-back titles in the CIK-FIA European Championship (OK).
2021 also marked the youngster's single-seater debut, as he contested 9 rounds of the Italian Formula 4 Championship, 2 rounds of the FIA Central European Zone Formula 4 and finished 3rd in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F4 UAE Trophy Race.
2022 saw Kimi win the Italian and German (ADAC) Formula 4 Championships with Prema, while also winning the FIA Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup as part of Team Italy.
The titles continued in 2023, with Kimi winning the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) and the FIA Formula Regional Middle East Championships.
Following his stellar 2023 season, Kimi made the large jump up to Formula 2 with Prema Racing. Despite a challenging start he found his stride mid-point of the year, winning his first F2 race in the Silverstone Sprint and going on to win the Feature in Budapest. Those two successes saw him become the youngest multiple race winner in the history of the series.
A difficult round in Qatar and illness forcing him out of the finale in Abu Dhabi wasn't the ideal way to end the season, but P6 in the standings was a fine effort for his debut season.
Despite his tough end to the season, on the Saturday of the Italian Grand Prix Kimi was confirmed as Lewis Hamilton's replacement alongside George Russell in the 2025 Formula One World Championship.
"This season has been quite tough," said Kimi at season end. "Jumping from Regional to F2 was a big step but I prepared the best I could over the winter.
"We struggled as a team especially at the start of the year but towards the end, we managed to come back a bit, fight more at the front and overall it was a positive season.
"I learned a lot as a driver and also learned how to work best with the team, especially in the difficult moments. I also got my first FP1 sessions in and did the F1 post-season test so that was useful to get a better understanding of the car and tyres. All great learnings for next year."
His F1 debut was hardly auspicious, the youngster spinning off at the Curva Alboreto just 10 minutes into the session. However, Toto Wolff wasn't too disappointed, admitting that he was glad to see the youngster pushing from the outset.
There was another FP1 outing in Mexico, where he finished twelfth after sustaining floor damage whilst running over a piece of debris, while in the post-season test he completed 62 laps on his way to posting the fifth-fastest time overall.
His Christian name is actually Andrea, however he was given the middle name Kimi - as in Raikkonen by a friend of his father, who was keen for his son to have a foreign name after "Andrea".
Racing is definitely in the Antonelli blood, for his father Marco is a Sports Car driver and owner of the San Marino-based AKM Motorsport racing team, which has competed in the Italian F4 Championship since 2022. He previously ran Antonelli Motorsport, which contested the Blancpain GT Series, Porsche Supercup and International GT Open, winning the 2018 Italian GT Championship.
Being Italian, there was naturally pressure for Kimi to join Ferrari, but Mercedes won out having supported the youngster from the age of 11.
"To be honest, there was not much contact," said Antonelli of the legendary Maranello outfit. "I don't really remember exactly because I was like 11. We weren't really in contact, but eventually, we got the call from Mercedes, and we had no doubts and just accepted."
Though the situation at Red Bull led to intense speculation that Max Verstappen would be enticed to the German team, Wolff insists that he knew he would be promoting the Italian to the vacant seat "five minutes" after learning that Hamilton was leaving.
"This is the line-up that I always wanted," said the Austrian, "bearing in mind the fast-tracking that we did with Kimi and everything related there too, but that was immediately what I wanted to do."
Other than stepping into the cockpit vacated by a seven-time world champion, Kimi also carries the hopes of a nation, the 18 year old being the first Italian to line-up on the grid since Antonio Giovinazzi in 2021.
