Andrea Kimi Antonelli will drive Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in Mexican Grand Prix FP1, and Lewis says “because he’s working with Bono next year”, he’s “here to support in any way I can”.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the driver who will replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2025, will get his second chance to drive the W15 in Mexican Grand Prix Free Practice 1.
His first FP1 outing at Monza earlier this year did not go according to plan, as the young driver crashed early on in the session.
There, he was driving George Russell’s car, and now in Mexico, he will drive Lewis’. Ahead of the weekend, Lewis said he had a few words of advice for his young colleague.
“I don’t personally feel that,” he said when asked if he was concerned about his car getting damaged.
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“Going into Monza we didn’t approach it in that way. Kimi is young, and he’s learned from his first outing in Monza.
“We did our briefing together, because he’s working with Bono [Lewis’ race engineer Peter Bonnington] next year, and obviously here, and I’m here to support in any way I can.
“What’s key is, and as I said to him, he doesn’t have to set the world alight on the first lap. Just build into it, enjoy. I told him the track is really dirty early on.
“Whatever we’re faced with, we’ll handle, but I don’t think he’ll have any problems.+,” Hamilton concluded.