Mercedes and Ferrari are two of the most established teams in Formula 1 today. Although they currently differ in performance, their driver academies produce some of the best young racing drivers.
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However, it is very rare for a young driver to be involved in these two academies, as with Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The 14-year-old Italian will be visiting Ferrari headquarters this week.
Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli takes part in the Ferrari scouting camp
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This week there is a scouting camp for their driver academy at Ferrari headquarters in Maranello. Italians traditionally invite drivers to their camp to try out for the Ferrari Driver Academy, and Antonelli is one of them.
Born in the Italian city of Bologna, he is one of the brightest international kart drivers today. The 14-year-old was successful in various karting competitions around the world before switching to the Mercedes junior driver program at the age of 12.
Since then, the Silver Arrows have raved about his talent, and CEO Toto Wolff has been keeping an eye on him. This week the Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI) nominated Antonelli to attend the FDA’s Boy Scout Camp this week. In addition to the Italian, they also nominated Brando Badoer, the son of the former Ferrari driver Luca Badoer.
While this may seem like a conflict of interest, Mercedes Driver Development Advisor Gwen Lagrue clarified the situation. He said: “Kimi is one of our young Mercedes drivers, he was invited by the Italian association.”
DIVE DEEPER
Could we see any Academy drivers on the F1 grid in 2022?
While George Russell and Charles Leclerc are two outstanding academic products in F1, several young drivers are waiting for their chance in F1. Ferrari Driver Academy’s Callum Ilott appears to be next in line to make an F1 debut. The Briton is Alfa Romeo’s test driver this season, having finished second behind Haas F1 driver Mick Schumacher in the 2020 F2 season.
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BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 19: Mick Schumacher from Germany and Prema Racing speaks with Callum Illot from Great Britain and UNI-Virtuosi Racing after a press conference after the sprint race for the Formula 2 championship on the Hungaroring on July 19, 2020 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Dan Istitene – Formula 1 / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
However, despite their broad talent pool, Mercedes’ up-and-coming drivers seem further away from making F1 debuts in 2022. If you take the current Formula 2 season as a reference, table leader Guanyu Zhou could also have a chance of an F1 drive next season.
The Chinese, who belongs to the Alpine driver academy, will be testing for the Alpine F1 this weekend in Spielberg.
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The post Does Ferrari F1 want to poach the highly rated Academy driver from Mercedes? first appeared on monter-une-startup.
