Is Kimi Antonelli the better Championship contender for Mercedes?

Since his first race in Australia, Andrea Kimi Antonelli has shown the world of Formula 1 why Toto Wolff took a risk on an 18-year-old race driver. But six races deep into the season, he’s looking like Mercedes' better option if they want to win a World Title any time soon. 

Mainly, for one simple reason - Grit. 

There’s no denying that George Russell is an incredibly talented driver. Heck, all 20 of them in the paddock are incredibly talented because that is a prerequisite to entering the sport. 

But once you’re in the sport, you can either fight to the top or fizzle out and hold on for dear life while young-guns zip past you. 

Russell has been in Formula 1 since 2019 and with Mercedes since 2020 and has never lifted the World Title. Now, you may be thinking that’s unfair to say given the fact that he was Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at the time, and Mercedes backed Hamilton to win fully.

This would have put Russell in a more supportive role with 2025 being his first time in the “senior seat”. 

So how could he have won a World Title if he was spending all his time at Mercedes supporting Hamilton? 

It could just be that Russell never wanted it bad enough. He never wanted the title so bad, that he would defy his orders and go for glory. While that may be insubordination or disobedience, nobody argues with a winner. Disobedience seems to prevail in F1, Max Verstappen and most recently Oscar Piastri have proven that.

To go a step further, take team William’s performance in the recent Miami Grand Prix. 

Their two drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were battling till the end, with Albon behind Sainz. The team had instructed Albon to stay behind Sainz for the race even though Albon thought he could beat him. 

But what did Albon do? Overtake the Spaniard and took home the P5 finish for team Williams, their highest finish this season. 

Was it because Albon is the better driver or his car is faster? No. He just wanted it more. 

When McLaren emerged as one of the front runners in the sport at the end of last season, we saw a battle between Piastri and Lando Norris, which CEO Zak Brown had to nip in the bud, adding that Norris was their main driver. 

But Piastri was hearing absolutely none of that and took matters into his own hands and is now leading the World Driver Rankings and has won three consecutive Grand Prix. One word, grit. 

Russell has had every opportunity to put Mercedes back on top but never delivered. He could have beaten Hamilton against orders and etched his name in the history books. They both drove the same Championship winning car. So what stopped him? 

But Mercedes new 18-year-old Italian just may have what it takes. 

Antonelli made history at Miami becoming the youngest ever driver to qualify for pole position in a Sprint, eclipsing Sebastian Vettel’s record at Red Bull. Sure, he lost the lead in the first turn of the sprint but it was a step in the right direction for his confidence, which is already clearly way up there. 

Russell did well to fight off Verstappen at the dying stages of Miami and secured his fourth P3 finish of the season and has kept the team’s hope alive with the help of the young Italian, who took home points every race so far this season. Again, it's the debut season. 

He is also quite the speedster, having overtaken Verstappen and became the fastest driver around Suzuka Circuit in Japan with his lap of 1:30.965.

He is also the youngest driver to lead a Formula 1 race and set the fastest lap at Suzuka. The youngster has turned out to be a vital asset in Mercedes quest for a Constructor Title this season.

Antonelli has captured the world’s attention and even earned Wolf’s praise, who no doubt taps himself on the back every now and then because it was his move to rope the youngster into Mercedes. 

But Antonelli still has some tricks to learn before he can start competing for P1, according to Wolff.   

“I think the high point definitely was seeing his [Antonelli's] speed on a single lap, great. You know that's another proof of his talent and a good indication of how the future can be.

“And then finding the right references, and Bono [Race Engineer Pete Bonnington] really tried to guide him, but when you're in that car, it's not easy. And I think it's just part of the learning curve.

“Overall, I go away with the feeling that he's done a good job,” Wolff said after the Miami GP, admitting Mercedes needed to do a better job managing their tyres.