Toto Wolff has been advised to take a gamble on a rising teenage star when selecting Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes.
Hamilton’s surprise decision to accept a two-year agreement with Ferrari beginning in 2025 has left Mercedes in the lurch as they look for a replacement driver to partner George Russell.
Hamilton and Mercedes have shared six Formula One drivers’ world championship wins since he joined to the German garage from McLaren in 2013, but recent car issues prompted him to retire.
Wolff is faced with finding a viable new driver to take Hamilton’s position and challenge for world titles at one of F1’s most recognized teams, and former great Jolyon Palmer has advised him on who to look at.
Palmer, who previously made 37 Formula One outings for Renault, believes 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli will join Mercedes and hails him as a future’superstar’.
The young Italian is already a member of Mercedes’ junior team, has yet to make his F2 debut in this year’s series, and is expected to pursue a future in Formula One.
Palmer commented on the possibility of Antonelli being promoted by Mercedes, saying, ‘You’ve got to go brave.
If Antonelli wins F2 and looks like an amazing superstar, you’re Mercedes; go bold! Take the risk and place a superstar in the appropriate seat.
‘And if 2025 begins slowly, we know that the expectation is not that he would come in and defeat Russell and become champion. But he’s at least integrated into Mercedes.
‘There will be monitoring, as there always is, but it will not be excessive in the early races. But then you get there, you’ve had a season, it’s 2026, there are new regulations, and you’re ready to hit it hard off the top.
And I believe team principals are overly cautious when it comes to driver signings. There are no rookies on the grid now. I believe everyone is pretty stable and wants to keep a safe pair of hands behind the wheel. It is quite rare for a potential star not to become one.
Suggestions that Antonelli could be the ideal successor to Hamilton are not new to Wolff.
