Andrea Kimi Antonelli will continue preparations for his Formula 1 debut by making his second appearance in a first practice session for Mercedes this week.
The driver Mercedes named as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement next year will take over the seven-times world champion’s car for the first practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.Antonelli’s only previous outing for the team in an official F1 practice session ended after just five laps. He impressed the team with his immediate speed on his debut at Monza, but lost control of his car at Parabolica and crashed.
Following last weekend’s sprint event at the Circuit of the Americas, which featured only one hour of practice, Mercedes hope to use the extra running time available in Mexico to improve their understanding of the upgrades they introduced there. The team was puzzled by the performance of its upgraded W15, which was a contender for pole position on Friday but was never as competitive again. Hamilton and George Russell both spun off during the course of the weekend.
Antonelli’s second run means Mercedes will have fulfilled their obligation to give up one practice session in each of their cars to a junior driver. He is the fourth driver confirmed to participate in practice for this weekend’s event, joining IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward at McLaren, Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich at Aston Martin and World Endurance Championship driver Robert Shwartzman at Sauber.
First practice drivers who have appeared in 2024
| Team | Regular driver | Practice driver | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Bull | Max Verstappen | ||
| Red Bull | Sergio Perez | Isack Hadjar | R12 – Great Britain |
| Mercedes | Lewis Hamilton | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | R20 – Mexico |
| Mercedes | George Russell | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | R16 – Italy |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerc | ||
| Ferrari | Carlos Sainz Jnr | ||
| McLaren | Lando Norris | ||
| McLaren | Oscar Piastri | Pato O’Ward | R20 – Mexico |
| Aston Martin | Fernando Alonso | Felipe Drugovich | R20 – Mexico |
| Aston Martin | Lance Stroll | ||
| Alpine | Pierre Gasly | Jack Doohan | R12 – Great Britain |
| Alpine | Esteban Ocon | Jack Doohan | R9 – Canada |
| Williams | Alexander Albon | ||
| Williams | Franco Colapinto (previously Logan Sargeant) | Franco Colapinto | R12 – Great Britain |
| RB | Yuki Tsunoda | ||
| RB | Liam Lawson (previously Daniel Ricciardo) | Ayumu Iwasa | R4 – Japan |
| Sauber | Valtteri Bottas | Robert Shwartzman | R15 – Netherlands |
| Sauber | Zhou Guanyu | Robert Shwartzman | R20 – Mexico |
| Haas | Nico Hulkenberg | Oliver Bearman | R10 – Spain |
| Haas | Kevin Magnussen | Oliver Bearman | R12 – Great Britain |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2024 Mexican Grand Prix
- McLaren have no regrets over pitting Norris shortly before red flag came out
- Leclerc fined, avoids same penalty as Verstappen after apologising for swearing
- Leclerc not in the clear over swearing as Verstappen claims he went unpunished
- Majority of drivers wanted racing rules to change “straight away” – Russell
- Verstappen was “over the limit” with Norris but others would do same – Leclerc
Coventry Climax
23rd October 2024, 12:09
Will he crash again?
Ben
23rd October 2024, 16:06
Who Hamilton?
I luv chicken
23rd October 2024, 16:10
Is there a book on which corner, and which lap? I’ll take both corner 1, and left hander at the stadium, both on lap 4.
Herowassenna
24th October 2024, 14:44
The kid, by all accounts, has driven thousands of miles without problem.
Gets in the W15 and spins off in FP1 in a car that’s caught out the seasoned drivers too.
Maybe it’s the car that’s the issue..
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd October 2024, 12:20
Shwartzman again instead of Pourchaire, even though the latter is Sauber-affiliated & this aspect still has relevance until next year’s end.
I initially assumed that while Shwartzman participated in Zandvoort, they surely use Pourchaire for the latter part of their minimum requirement, so Audi clearly don’t rate him at all, especially as he’s barely even been mentioned regarding a 2025 full-time drive.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd October 2024, 19:47
‘they’d surely use’
Garns (@garns)
23rd October 2024, 13:15
Toto to Kimi “Once again Kimi, this is FP1, not Q3”. I hope he has a good run, its exciting to see what these young guys can do.
lucifer (@lucifer)
23rd October 2024, 13:23
Will he be driving the updated spec or the old spec
Mayrton
24th October 2024, 6:59
I do not understand why they don’t let him drive the remaining races of the season. Hamilton is not going to bring Mercedes anything anymore and it creates the opportunity for Antonelli to let him get used to the car before the 2025 season starts. Plus it would give Lewis a well deserved somewhat longer break. Nothing makes sense these days at Mercedes.
GK
24th October 2024, 17:14
It wouldn’t be a good PR. Furthermore maybe they would have to pay Hamilton some extra money. Given his stature it wouldn’t be surprising if he had clauses in his contract, protecting him from being waived off before the end of a season.
But the meltdown would at the Sky Sports be an awesome show.
An Sionnach
24th October 2024, 12:44
Hopefully they’ll remember to disarm the booby traps before they hand the car over to Kimi…