Kimi Antonelli has long been earmarked as the favourite to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season. A rookie could be the heir to the most successful driver in F1 history. Antonelli is only 17 years old, and has just reached the halfway point of his first season in Formula 2. But Mercedes have been hugely impressed with how he’s performed in a private testing programme. Under the regulations, the Italian is allowed to run in cars that are two or more years old. He drove the 2021 challenger at the Red Bull Ring, and then its immediate successor at Imola and Silverstone. Those performance…
