Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Replacement Kimi Antonelli Targets 'More Improvement' in European Leg of F1 2025 Season

When Mercedes chose to replace Lewis Hamilton with Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antontelli for the 2025 Formula 1 season onwards, there were many eyebrows raised at the decision even with those who knew of the young Italian's raw speed. 

Replacing a seven-time world champion, who won 6 of those championships at the Silver Arrows, with a rookie who was at the time not even of legal age, was a risk. 

However, it is a move that has so far worked out well for the Brackley-based team as Antonelli has done well in his rookie season. 

He has been outpaced by more experienced teammate George Russell but has had highlights of his own - including a shock pole position for the Miami GP 2025 sprint race. 

Kimi Antonelli Opens Up on Season So Far

And, with the F1 season now set to move to the European leg, he is expecting even better results from himself. 

"There’s still room for improvement, but yeah, I feel better and better in the car every weekend. So hopefully after this weekend, we’re going to European tracks, tracks that I know well, and hopefully I can maintain the same pace or even go faster," he said after the Miami GP. 

It is worth noting that the tracks that F1 has raced on so far were largely unfamiliar to Antonelli, so an improvement in more familiar settings isn't unreasonable. 

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Where Can He Still Improve? 

However, he also picked out one particular aspect where he felt he could improve even more - race pace. 

"I need to check the race pace. Today (Miami main race) was just not good, especially on the Hard (tyre). I really struggled to make the tyre work during the stint, and I was just sliding a lot around and couldn’t really find lap time."

The next F1 race is the Emilia-Romagna GP 2025, which will take place in Imola.