F1 pundit dismisses suggestions that Kimi Antonelli can be Lewis Hamilton's potential replacement at Mercedes

F1 pundit Alex Jacques has dismissed suggestions that Mercedes will replace Lewis Hamilton with junior driver Kimi Antonelli in 2025.

Speaking on the Feeder Series podcast, Jacques claimed that Kimi Antonelli would have to "completely dominate" the F2 Championship in 2024 to have any chance of racing with the Mercedes F1 team in 2025.

He also felt Toto Wolff would think long and hard before placing a rookie driver in Lewis Hamilton's seat.

“Antonelli would have to completely dominate the [F2] championship to have a chance of starting the 2025 season in that Mercedes team. I just don’t see Wolff putting someone, no matter how good they are, in that situation,” said the F1 pundit.

Alex Jacques added that the Silver Arrows would need a driver who could lift their spirits and was a big name or a "mega talent." Hence, he cannot imagine Kimi Antonelli joining the Brackley-based team in 2025.

“You need something to lift that team. That’s either going to have to be a massive name of huge calibre or a mega talent, but I still don’t see Antonelli starting [the season with Mercedes],” added Jacques.

After Lewis Hamilton's shock transfer to Ferrari in 2025 was announced, Antonelli's name came up among several other F1 drivers who could replace the seven-time world champion at the Silver Arrows.

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Mercedes team boss believes Kimi Antonelli will be successful in F1

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff recently showered praise on Kimi Antonelli, claiming that he would be successful in Formula 1.

According to Reuters, Wolff told a group of reporters in Bahrain that he enjoyed seeing Antonelli grow as a person and racing driver over the past few years. However, he added that he wanted to take pressure off the junior driver's shoulders.

"It's clear Kimi has been in our junior academy since he was 11 and we have great pleasure in watching him grow as a young man and growing through the ranks, but I also want to take a little bit of pressure off him," said Wolff.

The Austrian added that Kimi Antonelli has excelled in every racing series and claimed that he would do so in F1 as well.

"He's just 17, he's won everything he needed to win in his rookie seasons and I think he's going to be in Formula One. He's going to be a very, very successful driver in Formula One. But he hasn't started his Formula Two campaign yet," he added.

Kimi Antonelli is an Italian junior racing driver who has been under the Mercedes umbrella since 2019. He won several junior racing series and was directly promoted to F2, skipping the F3 Championship. He will be starting the 2024 F2 season with Prema Racing.