Photos: ACI Sport
Mercedes-AMG F1 Junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli made his eagerly awaited racing debut in the Italian F4 championship last weekend. The 15-year-old and his Prema team shared the experience with Formula Scout
Signed by the dominant force of Formula 1 while still driving mini-karts, there is definitely a feeling that Andrea Kimi Antonelli – son of former racing driver and successful team boss Marco Antonelli – is “the chosen one”, just like Lewis Hamilton was He took on the patronage of Ron Dennis and became a McLaren-Mercedes junior during his karting years.
Antonelli turned 15 just under three weeks ago, and although he was old enough to drive a single-seater beforehand – for example in the Danish Formula 4, where Sauber junior Emmo Fittipaldi competes – Mercedes had plans of its own for its Italian star.
His preparations began earlier this year, testing an F4 car publicly for the first time on the same Red Bull Ring circuit where it debuted last weekend. In March he was in his father’s AKM Motorsport team and was third fastest on his snowy half day in the car and 0.162 seconds behind pacesetter Ollie Bearman from Van Amersfoort Racing, who has dominated the Italian F4 ever since.
Antonelli told Formula Scout before his racing debut that, remarkably, his first foray into the track did not go according to plan.
“Unfortunately, I was only able to drive half a day because my team-mate broke the car the other day and I had to hand over my car,” said Antonelli about the test.
“So when I got here, I wasn’t really ready, also because I hadn’t really expected to do these last three laps [of the Italian F4 season], but I like that very much [single-seater] World and I work as hard as I can to improve every time. “
One of the complications of this first test that can still be felt today is that Antonelli broke his shin and metatarsus in his left leg during the final of the CIK-FIA Kart World Championship last November.
“I only used my right leg in this first test,” he revealed. “It is of course very difficult to get used to. I think you don’t lose that much in lap time when you get used to it, but yeah, it’s really hard.
“Most of the time I got confused because sometimes I tried to brake with my left side, but I realized that I had no strength. Was tough. I am glad that I have almost completely recovered. “
An almost complete recovery was not enough for the Red Bull Ring, which shows how impressive the coming results were, because the strong braking zones of turns one and three in particular require a lot of brake pressure and thus a strong left leg.
However, Antonelli wouldn’t even be able to compete in an F4 car if he hadn’t done the race training with his leg. After winning the CIK-FIA-Kart-European championship for OK-Karts in July, he switched to the more physical KZ-Kart for a European Championship round and finished sixth, then on the weekend before his F4-bow showed up for the KZ-World Championship and finished ninth against much older, stronger and more experienced opponents.
“KZ helped me because when I got back to the go-kart, I had problems with my leg,” said Antonelli after his first F4 qualifying, which he finished in 10th place and 0.451 seconds behind his Prema team-mate Sebastian Montoya.
“At KZ you have to push harder than at OK, and I think that helps a lot, also because you have a lot of vibrations with go-karts, so you have to hold the brakes [down], and that was the hardest part for me at that moment. Every time I felt better, even in the car with the brakes compared to yesterday, I felt better. So yeah, I’m really happy about it. “
Antonelli’s F4 mileage before his debut included another day of testing with AKM in Vallelunga in June, then a Ferrari Driver Academy scouting camp, for which the Italian Motorsport Federation nominated him along with another son of Antonelli: Brando Badoer.
Photo: FIA Karting / KSP Reportages
His first real run with Prema and the crew he would be working with last weekend was on the Italian circuit of Cremona, which has strong braking zones and corners reminiscent of the Yas Marina Circuit. Prema’s F4 team manager Grazia Troncon announced that Antonelli will be driving there in the races for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix of F1 in December as this will be the first time the teams drive the second generation Tatuus F4 car, before being adopted by series around the globe, including Italy, in 2022.
Troncon also shared their first impressions of Antonelli’s debut after turning 10th on the grid into ninth – and rookie class win – in his first formula race on Saturday.
“This is good training for him, because 30 cars on the track are not easy and he has already tested this track,” she said.
“But it was very, very cold because of the snow and it was during the time he had the problem with his leg. In all honesty, I think he started well today with no mistakes and he needs to focus to get the most of the experience.
“The whole team thinks he’s a very talented driver. He’s done well in karting, but even today’s results show that he has good potential so all he needs to do is improve and work to bring it all together. All the boys here [in Italian F4] want to do a good job, so it’s tough training for him too.
“Some things train on the small circuit, and some things are races. They are not the same things. But I think it’s a good opportunity for him, he also has quick team-mates. “
Antonelli led Antonelli through the weekend and remaining laps of Pedro Matos’ season. The former racing driver works with young talents after developing the first racing campaigns for Oscar Piastri and Dennis Hauger before winning the Formula Regional Europe title with Frederik Vesti and continuing this relationship in FIA Formula 3, where he also works Piastri worked together. He is now reunited with Hauger and they are leading in F3. So it’s no wonder that since Max Verstappen he has been entrusted with the most powerful supporting role for a single-seater debutante.
Antonelli’s first yards in an official session, Photo: Formula Scout
“Pedro is really good,” said Antonelli after his debut. “I like him a lot. He’s very calm and he’s really good at explaining everything. I really enjoy working with him and I think we can get really good results with him.
“The first race went really well. It’s a pretty good result for my first race. I want to do better, but I have a lot of experience, I learn a lot, especially when I’m very close to the person in front because when you improve [to close in on cars ahead] You have dirty air, so it is more difficult to control the car. And that was my weak point in the race. But tomorrow it will be much better. “
The two races on Sunday should be a bit tougher, however, as Antonelli was the fastest in second qualifying in 16th place.
“In qualifying two we didn’t really get the lap together,” said Matos to the Formula Scout. “His pace was good enough for the top 10. I think this track is the toughest for rookies because of the big stops, and the karting needs to improve the brake pressure a bit, but I’m pretty sure it’s quite a lot will be good progress from him. “
Since he cannot brake hard enough and due to his inexperience he has not yet “forgotten” skills that were used in karting, Antonelli went too hard on many corner entries, but this is common when it comes to karting graduates and especially those who they’re young enough to be a year or two away from a spurt in height and muscle mass.
Matos added that Antonelli “lost everything in the first three corners and then was even faster with everyone on the last stretch of the track, so I expect good things from the end of the season!”
Antonelli moved up four places to 12th in race two on Sunday morning and then had a big challenge to crown his debut weekend. Shortly before the start of the third race, heavy rain hit the Red Bull Ring and so it started behind the safety car. Much of the field slipped into the pit lane to switch to grooved tires at the end of the first lap, and Antonelli – last in line for Prema’s sixty cars – spent almost two minutes there before returning to the track in 26th.
There were two more safety car interruptions, but he was able to improve the order. He won five spots from drivers who chose not to pit and three more from those who pulled out, but on the seven green flag laps he overtook eight cars and grabbed turn five on the final lap the ninth place from Pedro Perino.
No other driver made up so many places, although US racing race winner Tim Tramnitz made his pit stop from first to 15. Most teams were between 12 and 50 seconds faster than Antonelli’s pit stops, and the track temperature decreased by 4.3 ° C during the race made the race even more difficult in wet weather.
“He had a very tough experience [for learning] But he got a good rookie podium in his first race of his career, and even in these conditions, very slippery track, pit stop, everything, he did a good job, ”said Troncon afterwards.
Matos lit up too, and the dates explain why. Antonelli drove the third fastest lap, only slower than the two-year-old F4 racers Tramnitz and Joshua Dufek, who dominated the stages of the race, and he was only surpassed by these two in the braking-heavy sector.
“I think he would have liked the race to last a little longer because he flies,” said Matos.
“For a first weekend it was the greatest experience you could have. He’s never ridden in the wet, so the last race was really impressive.
“We had to be careful during the pit stop because it was just unsafe [in a busy pitlane]so we had to do it neatly and slowly so that we lost a bit of ground. Since Prema has a lot of cars, we only have one wheel cannon and two mechanics, so it’s pretty tricky. But he did a really good job. “
How did Antonelli himself rate the weekend and the challenges of the third race?
“Unfortunately we lost a lot of time at the pit stop because when I got out I was almost last. But I felt very comfortable with the car and we were very fast and 9th place is a great result.
“I’ve improved a lot since Thursday. Not only in the fight with the other drivers, but also in terms of my driving style. I understand the car better, bthe pressure on the calculation got better every time. You don’t really need a lot of pressure in the rain, but I think in the dry, in every race, every time I’ve improved, and I think we’ll be ready for Mugello. “
Given his performance so far in an F4 car – and his great attitude (and fluency in English) – it will be great to see what Antonelli can do next with his part-time racing program that continues at Mugello 8-10. October.
Continue reading
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