Mercedes have rejected speculation that Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Mick Schumacher were involved in a ‘shootout’ to decide who replaces Lewis Hamilton next year.
Hamilton is leaving the Silver Arrows for Ferrari in 2025 and Mercedes are pondering who should take his seat. Mercedes hold an interest in Max Verstappen, but his Red Bull contract runs until 2028, so Antonelli and Schumacher represent more realistic alternatives.
Antonelli tested an old F1 car in early May at Silverstone, while George Russell and Schumacher drove Mercedes' 2022 car. After the news leaked, it was suggested that the 17-year-old Antonelli was competing with 25-year-old Schumacher for Hamilton’s seat.
But Mercedes have now clarified the situation in a statement: “Our next TPC (Testing of Previous Car) test will be held in Barcelona next week with Mick and Kimi driving the W13 (2022 car). Perhaps understandably, given these are private tests, there has been a lot of speculation around their purpose and content.
“Our most recent TPC test in Silverstone included Mick, Kimi and George. It was incorrectly labelled a ‘shootout’, which was neither the intention nor the findings of the running. It’s important to understand that each driver completed different programmes, on different days, in different track and weather conditions. Unfortunately, unverified speculation has led to conclusions and comparisons being published that do not reflect what happened.
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“Both Mick and Kimi have done an excellent job delivering their respective programmes, to the complete satisfaction of the team, and we are looking forward to three busy days of running next week, too.”
Regardless of the reasoning behind the testing at Silverstone, Antonelli has clearly impressed Mercedes. The Italian has enough points to qualify for an FIA superlicence thanks to his success in the junior formula, but F1 rules dictate he cannot race in the sport until at least his 18th birthday on August 25.
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After driving the 2022 Mercedes at Imola ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, technical director James Allison gave a glowing assessment of Antonelli. “He’s certainly impressed everyone with the sessions he’s run so far,” Allison said. “He’d never been in an F1 car, but he looked like he had within a lap or two.
“It’s a cliché, but he’s fast, he’s consistent, didn’t make any mistakes. Young people can be trying to impress so much that they will spin off, or the opposite, they’re so terrified of spinning off that they don’t really show what they can do.
"Kimi seemed to just naturally slip into the right groove on that, giving decent input about how the car felt, while not really putting a foot wrong, so he looks like the real deal.”
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