Antonelli may not be ’ready’ for 2025 F1 debut

The jury is out regarding the start of Kimi Antonelli’s Formula 1 career.

That is the view of well-known former F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, who admits he was not impressed with the 18-year-old’s initial Friday practice outings at Monza and Mexico.

Italian teenager Antonelli crashed within minutes of hitting the track at Monza.

"There was so much hype around the whole weekend, and I guess you could say I learned a lesson the hard way with what happened in FP1," he said.

Montoya has a more critical view.

"He came out onto the track and gave the impression that he wanted to break the lap record straight away," he told W Radio Colombia. "Then he wrecked the car."

Antonelli makes no secret of the fact that he took a much more cautious approach to his second outing in Mexico.

"I had more time to prepare, because it was not an F2 weekend," he said. "It was a much cleaner session and was definitely what was needed after Monza. I didn’t want to take any risks, and I learned a lot."

Again, Montoya has a vastly different take on what really happened.

"In Mexico, in my opinion, he drove too cautiously so as not to damage anything," said the 49-year-old, who won seven grands prix for Williams and McLaren.

"In Monza he was criticised because he put the car off the track, now in Mexico he was too slow, and of course that is not good either. You have to find the right balance, and I see that as a problem," added Montoya.

"Kimi has the ability and the speed to compete in Formula 1, there’s no doubt about that," he continued, referring to the youngster who will replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next year.

"He has done far more laps than other new drivers like (Oliver) Bearman, (Jack) Doohan or (Gabriel) Bortoleto, thanks to all those test drives in the old Mercedes on numerous different tracks.

"But I ask myself - is he really ready for this step?" Montoya wonders.

Some believe team boss Toto Wolff is planning to bring Valtteri Bottas back to Mercedes as a reserve driver next year as an easy ’plan B’ in the event that Antonelli really struggles next year.

But Wolff told Kronen Zeitung newspaper that he isn’t thinking of any other driver - like Max Verstappen, for instance - except Antonelli and George Russell for now.

"You have to have confidence in your drivers," he said. "You have to give your drivers the maximum support in order to be successful.

"Only if things really go wrong will we consider other options. It’s like flirting with others while you’re trying to make your relationship work."