The Race

Mark Hughes on why the Antonelli hype is so justified [early access]

Added 2025-03-06 15:00:12 +0000 UTC

As part of a multi-voice article on various pre-season F1 topics that will appear on The Race website next week, we asked Mark Hughes to give his take on Kimi Antonelli ahead of the teenager's race debut. We thought you might like an exclusive early look at Mark's thoughts:

We are going to see many extraordinary moments from Kimi Antonelli. How well he can string them all together in his rookie season is the only question mark. For although he’s been well-prepared in terms of total Formula 1 test mileage, don’t forget this will be just his fourth season of car racing.

In terms of experience as a rookie F1 driver, he’s somewhere in between 2015 Max Verstappen (who had just one season of F3 before stepping up to F1) and 2008 Lewis Hamilton (who’d had five seasons in Formula Renault, F3 and GP2). In terms of the likely competitiveness of his car too, his Mercedes is probably going to be somewhere in between the 2015 Toro Rosso and 2007 McLaren.

It’s the peaks we are looking for, not the averages. There will be many data gaps – mainly to do with tyres - that will only be filled by experience. But if the Mercedes is competitive it’s perfectly feasible that he will be winning grands prix.

This level of raw ability – his natural feel and balance - is super-rare and is often seen to most devastating effect through fast corners. There have been wet days in his career where he’s been whole seconds faster than his peers.

There is always a natural cynicism – both inside the sport and from fans – when someone this good comes along. That’s just perception lagging behind reality.

In hindsight, it’s often the lack of belief in the hype which is revealed as ill-judged. Like those who doubted 17-year-old Verstappen or who speculated that Kimi Raikkonen, with just a season of Formula Renault under his belt, would be a liability on the F1 2001 grid, rather than an often-sensational performer who’d be snapped up for gazillions by a top team within a few months.

Cynic or fan, Antonelli won’t care; he’s going to blow you away regardless.