Antonelli offers honest assessment over F1 promotion chances as he admits ‘I don’t know if I’d be ready’

Kimi Antonelli has moved to cool expectations regarding a potential promotion to F1 in the near future, saying he is “still learning a lot” in F2 after a rapid rise up the junior motorsport ranks.

Still only 17, Mercedes-backed Antonelli has been building an impressive CV with successive titles in Italian F4, ADAC F4, Formula Regional Middle East and Formula Regional European over the last two years.

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Rather than moving to F3 for 2024, he was placed in F2, the category directly below F1, with a solid run of early-season points finishes paving the way for breakthrough Sprint and Feature Race wins at Silverstone and the Hungaroring respectively.

Asked after last weekend’s Budapest triumph what his recent F2 successes are going to do for his F1 chances, Antonelli replied: “About next year, I don’t really want to think about it because nothing is official, so I don’t know anything, to be honest.

“The goal is to do the best season in F2. Obviously to come away with two wins is really good on the momentum side, for the team as well because obviously we’ve been struggling at the start of the season, but now we’re building the momentum.”

Given his 51-point advantage over Prema team mate Ollie Bearman in the F2 standings, Antonelli was then pushed on if he feels ready for F1 – given that the Briton recently secured a full-time promotion of his own with Haas.

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“I don’t know if I would be ready, to be honest, because I still am learning a lot in F2,” he admitted, having tested F1 machinery with Mercedes for the first time in recent months. “Definitely I still do quite a few mistakes, a few details that really matter, and I’m still not doing them right.

“I don’t know, to be honest. I’m trying to improve and to not make the same mistakes again, and I think [winning the Feature Race in Hungary] was the proof.

“About my team mate, he’s a really good driver, really strong. He also missed a round in Jeddah [to race for Ferrari], so definitely I think the gap would be a bit closer. I think the main thing that is really important is we’re working well together and we’re trying to help the team to improve.”

If he arrives on the F1 grid, Antonelli would join a list of almost 100 Italian drivers who have competed in a World Championship Grand Prix – as well as becoming the first to represent his country since Antonio Giovinazzi in 2021.

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Asked about that prospect, he added: “Of course, it would be good to be the next Italian in F1. I have to say, the excitement is quite high around [it], especially in Italy because they really hope [it can happen]. But yeah, still a long way [to go].

“I repeat, the focus is F2, trying to get some more good results and try to finish the season in the best way possible. The excitement around is really high, obviously with all the talking, but we’ll see what’s going to happen next year.”