Antonelli 'a danger' for George Russell – Marko

Jan.13 (GMM) Kimi Antonelli is a “risk” for Mercedes but a potential “danger” for Mercedes incumbent George Russell.

That is the view of Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko, as he reflects on why Mercedes decided to replace Lewis Hamilton with 18-year-old Italian rookie Antonelli for 2025 and beyond.

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya thinks team boss Toto Wolff also signing Valtteri Bottas as reserve driver this year is a key strategic move.

“My reading is that Mercedes wants to cover itself with Bottas,” he said. “He is the safety net in case it doesn’t work with Antonelli and he knows it.”

Antonelli is clearly one of the hottest talents to hit Formula 1 in recent years, but Marko notes that he made a fundamental error when making his official practice debut at Monza last year.

“I don’t understand why they put him in the car on that circuit, even if he was very fast in his first three laps,” the Austrian told sport.de. “But on the fourth, he went into the barriers.

“If he uses his skills well, which he has, he can be a danger to Russell,” Marko added. “Antonelli is a risk, but we also took that risk with (Max) Verstappen in the past.

“Max was very young when he got into the car, but in his case he was not in a leading team, so he was under less pressure.”