Kimi Antonelli
Why is Kimi Antonelli so famous?
What notable achievements does Kimi Antonelli have?
What was Antonelliās performance in his debut Formula One (F1) season?
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Kimi Antonelli is an Italian automobile racing driver who made his Formula One (F1) debut with the Mercedes racing team in 2025. In 2026, at age 20, he became the youngest person to win the F1 world driversā championship. He won multiple accolades in karting before enrolling in Mercedesās junior driver program in 2019.
- Name: Andrea Kimi Antonelli
- Also called: Kimi
- Occupation: Race car driver competing in Formula One
- Notable teams: Prema Racing in Formula 2 (2024) and Mercedes Formula One team (2025ā )
- Honors and records: Youngest multiple-race winner in F2 history; youngest polesitter in F1 history; youngest driver to lead the F1 Driversā Championship
Early life and youth career
Kimi Antonelli is the son of former professional racer Marco Antonelli and Veronica Antonelli (nƩe Pomaro). Antonelli began kart racing at age seven and in 2019 won the junior categories of the international WSK Euro Series and the WSK Super Master Series in karting. He also won back-to-back FIA Karting European Championship titles in 2020 and 2021.
Single-seater racing
In 2021 Antonelli made his single-seater racing debut, competing in the lower-tier Formula 4. The following year he achieved a double championship victory by winning the Italian F4 Championship and the ADAC F4 Championship. He continued his rapid progression by claiming overall titles in both the Formula Regional Middle East Championship and the Formula Regional European Championship in 2023.
Mercedes promoted Antonelli directly to the FIA Formula 2 Championship (bypassing Formula 3) with Prema Racing for the 2024 season. He became the youngest driver to win multiple races in the formatās history, including a wet-weather sprint race win at the Silverstone circuit in England and a feature race victory at Hungaryās Hungaroring racetrack.
Formula One career
For the 2025 F1 season Mercedes selected Antonelli to race alongside English driver George Russell, following seven-time world champion Lewis Hamiltonās exit from the team. Antonelli made his F1 debut at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix (GP), finishing in fourth place. He secured his first career podium at the Canadian GP that year and ended his rookie season with three podium finishes.
Antonelli began the 2026 season, which saw a major overhaul of F1ās technical regulations, with a second-place finish at the season-opening Australian GP. He won his first F1 race from pole position at the Chinese GP, becoming the youngest polesitter in F1 history, the second-youngest to win a GP, and the first Italian to win an F1 race in 20 years.
Following a subsequent win at the Japanese GP, Antonelli became the youngest driver to top the 2026 Driversā Championship ranking. He later established a commanding lead in the championship with victories in GPs held in Miami, Canada, Monaco, Belgium, Monza (during which he recovered from starting in 19th position on the grid because of an engine penalty), Spain, and Texas. Antonelli claimed the driversā championship weeks before the end of the season, at the Mexican GP, making him the youngest winner in F1 history, a record previously held by Sebastian Vettel.
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