Then, within hours, Charles Leclerc won the Italian GP for Ferrari. What a Sunday at Monza it was for the Tifosi!
Formula One’s worst-kept secret became a reality with the confirmation on Sunday that Antonelli will drive for Mercedes in 2025. Now, everyone is asking how good the young Italian will be. If he lives up to expectations, he will become a young superstar fighting at the front of the Formula One field.
Antonelli has dominated every junior category he has driven in, much like Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Oscar Piastri before him. After winning the Formula Regional European and Middle East Championships in 2023, Antonelli was promoted to Formula Two without first competing in the lesser Formula Three category, the usual route for drivers aiming to make Formula One.
In Antonelli’s case, it was felt that a year in Formula Three would be a waste of his talent. Despite taking time to adapt to Formula Two, he has proven his speed and ability by claiming his maiden victory in the Sprint Race at the Silverstone series and a feature race win at the next round in Hungary. His rapid promotion through motorsport will continue in Formula One.
For a nation with such a rich history in the sport, it is almost inconceivable that there has not been an Italian driver victory in nearly 20 years, not since Giancarlo Fisichella won the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2006. Moreover, there hasn’t been an Italian driver on the grid since Antonio Giovinazzi in 2021.
The Italians claim that Italy is the home of Formula One essentially because Guiseppe Farina won the first-ever Formula One Drivers World Championship in 1950 in his Alfa Romeo. That win was followed by Alberto Ascari winning back-to-back titles for Ferrari in 1952 and 1953. However, there has not been an Italian World Drivers Champion since then, and the Italian Tifosi hope Antonelli is the man to end 70+ years of hurt.
The pressure to succeed for such a young and inexperienced driver is enormous. Not only will Antonelli have the hopes of an entire Italian nation on him, but the media scrutiny will likely be the greatest in the sport’s history, given that he will replace 7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton. When Antonelli crashed just ten minutes into his Formula One practice debut at Monza, some said that it was because the pressure was getting to him.
Mercedes and their Team Principal, Toto Wolff, will need to carefully manage Antonelli and the expectations that will be placed on him. But if Antonelli lives up to the expectations and performs as highly as his self-confidence suggests, the Tifosi’s wildest dreams will come true–one of their own claiming world championships once again.
