Lewis Hamilton seems to have already left a lasting impression on his Mercedes successor, Kimi Antonelli, as the young Italian has commended the driver on his humility despite achieving so much. Hamilton surprised the F1 world early in the year when he decided that he was going to leave the German team and move to Ferrari.
The decision meant that Lewis Hamilton would be leaving Mercedes after being a part of the team for close to a decade. Furthermore, Mercedes also had to scramble to find a replacement for the F1 legend, and as it turns out, Toto Wolff already had a plan in place by promoting the young driver, Kimi Antonelli.
Kimi Antonelli got his first taste of an F1 weekend recently at the Italian GP, where he got the opportunity to take part in FP1 alongside Lewis Hamilton. The overtly exuberant Italian understandably pushed too hard too early and ended up in the barriers, but seemed more or less nonplussed with what happened afterward.
The young Italian, however, appears to have developed a nice relationship with Lewis Hamilton, as the driver commended the F1 legend for his humility. In a conversation during Festival Dello Sport about his relationship with the legend, Antonelli said,
“I would never have imagined it but we do have a nice relationship. I speak to him during race weekends, but I have to say he is an amazing person, very humble,” Kimi Antonelli said (translated from Italian).
Kimi Antonelli on monitoring Lewis Hamilton in Singapore
Antonelli touched on how when he accompanied the team for the race in Singapore, he kept an eye on how Lewis Hamilton conducted himself during a weekend and approached everything. The Italian shared that he was looking forward to the opportunity of going back to the track to learn even more from the F1 great.
“I went to Singapore to watch the race, and I learned a lot about how he manages it, the information he gives on the car, and the tyres. During that weekend, I learned a lot from him, so I can’t wait to get back to the track to observe and learn even more, so as to be ready for next year.”
Antonelli has one more FP1 session that he’s expected to run with Mercedes this season. The young driver will be on an exponential learning curve, and a lot of things will depend on how he’s able to conduct himself in the early days of the sport.
