Move over, Leclerc, Antonelli is already F1’s most exciting driver to watch

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff. The Mercedes partnership is no more, but between them, they’ve made Formula 1 even more interesting in separate single pen strokes.

In Hamilton signing for Ferrari, a pulsating narrative is already well imbued in the 2025 season – especially as he starts off trailing in Australian Grand Prix qualifying against new team-mate Charles Leclerc.

And, by promoting Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton’s replacement, Wolff’s move has delivered a thrilling new F1 element. And it’s one that surely has Leclerc usurped as the most exciting driver to watch based on what Antonelli has produced at Albert Part so far.

Every time F1’s world feed cut to the Italian’s W16 traversing this 3.3-mile blast across all three practice sessions, Antonelli was either sideways on a kerb or running right up to the edge of one and snapping off it.

It’s been a wild start – and a painful one compared to new team-mate George Russell in qualifying in Melbourne – so Autosport figured we’d take a more detailed look at what Antonelli is doing that has made his true F1 arrival so compelling.

For a start, it’s worth noting the improvement in the Mercedes car package compared to the mid-to-closing stages period of the 2024 championship. The W16 is a far cry from the W15 that spat Hamilton and Russell into those embarrassing shunts at Austin last year, or the one Antonelli smashed to bits on his Monza debut.

The car’s platform is just so stable now – and carried over from the cool Bahrain test to boiling Melbourne. It’s also interesting to see how Russell-like Antonelli’s driving style appears to be, in terms of making singular, decisive steering wheel movements.

Having watched the onboard feed of Antonelli’s fliers in Melbourne, we can see that every time he commits to a corner it’s a via a similar single, confident sweep. Antonelli, does, however, then blend in subsequent, smaller, high-energy stabs, whereas Russell generally opens up the axle from his first movement in a controlled manner to reduce lateral load as a corner goes on.

But how the Mercedes progressed in FP3 was critically different – one that perhaps highlighted the very different stages of their careers. And it would become very important come qualifying and Antonelli’s shock Q1 exit in a car that Russell briefly had looking like a pole contender.

Watching Antonelli’s FP3 onboards showed two things standing out compared to Russell. Across his five completed fliers, he was inconsistent with the critical, tricky, Turn 6 right that feeds on the track’s main acceleration zones. Having been confident enough to get close to the gravel on his first flier here, Antonelli clipped the gravel on his second attempt before reigning it back in.

And, on their respective flying laps (which had them separated by almost 0.3s in Russell’s favour), GPS trace data shows Antonelli was braking significantly later, but then having to completely step off the gas mid-corner. Russell, meanwhile, still had a fair bit of throttle applied as he raced on through the zone where he crashed late in the race here last year.

The other major difference between the Mercedes pair was at the exit of Turn 11, where Antonelli was so visibly wild in all those off-board shots. He just kept running to the maximum width of the exit kerb – picking up muck on his tyres every time.

Russell did this as FP3 commenced, but by the end he was again braking earlier on entry and so able to hold a tighter line on exit – gaining critical hundredths. But their main FP3 time difference came down to that Turn 6 Antonelli lift.

Intriguingly, post-FP3 Toto Wolff suggested Antonelli was just building confidence – but pre-qualifying he already seemed supremely at ease with chucking the W16 about. In qualifying, however, Antonelli’s wildness became costly – although it was only a tiny moment at Turn 6 that ended up having big consequences.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Again, compared to Russell, he braked later and had to release the throttle fully, but on his final Q1 lap he got back on it faster and more thoroughly, which took his trajectory wider on exit. He dipped his left front wheel into the gravel further than he had on that opening FP3 effort – but was nowhere near as wide as some others have been here. The hit plus gravel already pulled and piled onto the kerb by others broke his car’s floor bib part.

Yet, even with this damage, Antonelli went 0.2s quicker on his final Q1 lap.

Now, of course, this might all be but fleeting moments in Antonelli’s fledgling career. And surely the most breathtaking driving of the weekend so far was Gabriel Bortoleto saving his Sauber from a 2022-Sebastian-Vettel shunt exiting Turn 4 late in Q2.

Albert Park is also generally thrilling all the way around and Isack Hadjar was also wagging his Racing Bulls’ rear end heading onto the main straight – such is the challenge of keeping the rear tyres alive here. Antonelli was just doing that more often.

But, with Leclerc having far fewer of his famed wild moments pushing to the limit, it seems F1 has a new driver to watch on that gripping knife-edge dance – such was the extent of Antonelli’s vivid rawness across the build up to and in Australia qualifying.

Don’t mistake this for repetition of the PR Mercedes deployed after his Monza shunt – entirely natural of course in supporting its teenage star, but repeated without enough scrutiny in some quarters. Antonelli pushed too hard, too fast there and even Wolff came to regret giving him that home one-off debut.

And he’s started slower than Russell too, all while picking up costly damage in a critical session, suggesting his style still needs tweaking. But Antonelli is still finding the limit: Mercedes was even braced for this.

That’s the F1 rookie game. And within it, for Antonelli, the championship has gained a real treat to watch as the season snaps into life.