Four seasons after its last constructors’ title in 2021, Mercedes is embarking on a new challenge to return to the top. Without Lewis Hamilton (40 years old), but with a homegrown duo, George Russell and the team’s new gem, Kimi Antonelli (18 years old).
Money may not buy happiness, but it can certainly produce drivers. It’s no coincidence that all teams, following Red Bull’s model, have each created their own youth development programs. Mercedes took on this task during a time when the team was dominating the competition, propelled by the powerful Hamilton-Rosberg duo that clinched eight consecutive constructors’ titles, in addition to seven drivers’ titles (six for Hamilton and one for Rosberg).
In the background, Gwen Lagrue manages this program. And this year, after Lewis Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari, this Frenchman with glasses as imposing as those of Fabien Galthié, had to become a hero in the offices of the financiers in Brackley. Yet, for a long time, he asked them for money, a lot of money. Because that’s the price to pay to train a F1 driver, a cost that often takes time to recoup. Or never does. Lagrue continues to fund, like a good family man, the seasons of the hopefuls engaged by the star-branded firm in karting, F4 or FRECA, thanks notably to the subsidies generated by the salary of another driver from the Mercedes school now at Haas, Esteban Ocon.
Kimi Antonelli Earns His Driving License
This year, a rebuilding Mercedes will likely reap the benefits of the seeds it has long sown without knowing if they would ever sprout. For the year 2025, the German team boasts a 100% homegrown duo because, alongside George Russell, a pure product of the Mercedes pipeline, Toto Wolff has decided to promote a new gem, the very young Italian Kimi Antonelli, hailed as the new star and likened to Max Verstappen, no less.
This comparison is due, of course, to the Italian’s age (the Dutchman was 17 when he started in F1 in 2015), but mainly to a formidable and insolent speed that has greatly impressed in the promotional formulas. And even in Formula 1, albeit briefly. Last year, at Monza, in front of his home GP crowd, Antonelli shone before crashing in practice. Two first sectors that light up purple (sign of absolute best time) on that Friday morning of practice before young Kimi smashed Hamilton’s car into the barriers of the Parabolica.
Gwen Lagrue, Head of Mercedes’ Young Driver Program, on Antonelli’s Accident at Monza
“He will never forget that F1 is tough, it forgives nothing”
“In the end, it’s a blessing in disguise,” admits Lagrue, the father figure of these young drivers who never fail to warmly greet the Frenchman. “He will never forget that F1 is tough, it forgives nothing. He has understood that it must be approached with humility.”
“Italy had to wait 1,190 days to see one of its own at the start of a Grand Prix (the last one was Giovinazzi at the end of 2021). However, Antonelli, a native of Bologna, in Ferrari’s homeland, was prepared by Mercedes, trained for months to meet the demands of the Brackley team. Before his first official tests this weekend, the driver – who only raced one season in F2 – completed nearly 12,000 km in private tests on single-seaters over two years old (this is the rule to avoid gathering information and these runs are done with demonstration tires). It was Peter Bonnington, “Bono”, Lewis Hamilton’s historic engineer, who was tasked with accompanying him on the tracks to build this essential relationship between them and teach him the basics of the discipline. A bit like when Ferrari had dispatched Jock Clear to chaperone Charles Leclerc at his debut in 2019.
Kimi Antonelli: “I don’t feel like I’m replacing Lewis Hamilton”
Twelve days of private testing that inevitably have a cost (just over 700,000 euros per day) but are well worth it: the child-faced driver arrives in F1 more prepared than Sir Lewis himself, when in 2007 the young Briton also started in Melbourne with a mileage that was thought to be impressive but is no longer (7,000 km).
Over ten million euros invested in Antonelli by Mercedes
For his entire career, from his karting debut to today, Mercedes has therefore spent over ten million euros on Antonelli, compared to Hamilton’s salary (around sixty million) which has been saved since his departure. Especially since the calculation is repeated with George Russell, who followed the same path as his Italian teammate.
It is easier to understand why Toto Wolff, on Thursday morning, wanted to sort out the contract extension issue for his duo, as early as this summer. Just enough time to see where the car, this W16 that pleasantly surprised in the surprising freshness of the winter tests, stands. And not only because of its rear wing, which also has a flexibility, a suppleness (different from that of McLaren or Ferrari) that surprised more than one. “As soon as we know where the car is, we will start working this summer to tie up the drivers’ dossier,” the Austrian boss of Mercedes confessed during a season launch breakfast, modeled on those of the good old days when the team was crushing everything thanks to the power of its hybrid engine.
The Silver Arrows are thus getting a new face, fresh, less flashy, more open than in the days of their crowns and champions. They are now dressed more sporty, with Adidas, and less chic than with Hilfiger or Hugo Boss. In London, a month ago, Rosa, one of the press officers formerly in charge of His Majesty Lewis, took young Kimi by the arm to introduce him to the entire press room, which he greeted as the good student he is. This is Mercedes’ new path to reclaim the peaks, a path that goes through humility, discretion, and… cost reduction.
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