2024 will be the application year for the vacant cockpit at the Formula 1 team Mercedes. A hot candidate is the young talent Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff emphasizes that there is no rush in the search.
Formula 1 racing team Mercedes is looking for the next superstar. Next year the seat will be vacant for Lewis Hamilton, who is moving to Ferrari. Traded again and again: Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
But the Italian super talent had a rather mixed start to his Formula 2 season. In the first races of the season in Bahrain he finished 14th and 10th, but was at least faster than his Prema teammate Oliver Bearman.
No breakthrough in Formula 2 yet
“A championship team on 17 and 18, that’s not where they should be,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff after the weak qualifying.
“I think you can compare him to his teammate, that’s one of the comparisons, and I think Oliver Bearman is a top driver. But I think, as I always say, I’m almost guilty of talking too much. We’ll see “How the next races will develop,” said the Austrian on “Sky Sports”.
The team boss doesn’t want to be stressed out when looking for Hamilton’s successor.
“I’m in no hurry for us to make a decision about the drivers. I was rushed with Lewis. So I’ll take it easy this time and evaluate the market.”
Steiner: “The market is opening up”
RTL expert Günther Steiner assumes that Mercedes itself does not yet know exactly who will inherit Hamilton.
“Kimi Antonelli – they’re betting a lot on him, but they’ll definitely see how he goes in the first five or six races of Formula 2,” he said in an exclusive interview sport.de and RTL/ntv.
“The market is opening up. The drivers who are hoping for a cockpit at Mercedes will certainly not sign a contract until nothing has been signed at Mercedes. There is time pressure, but there is also not. Each of the drivers will be eager to get the Mercedes Cockpit,” said the South Tyrolean.
Rumors have recently been circulating that even Max Verstappen could be a candidate for the Silver Arrows. The background is the simmering conflict with father Jos and team boss Christian Horner, which continues to be criticized.
And recently Sebastian Vettel didn’t rule out a comeback again…