In Antonelli, Mercedes may have found their Verstappen

Toto Wolff has staked his post-Hamilton legacy on replacing one of the greatest of all time with an 18-year-old F1 rookie. So far, it looks like a masterstroke, writes Kieran Jackson

- Kieran Jackson

Last summer, just before Kimi Antonelli was announced as Lewis Hamilton's replacement at Mercedes, a video of the Italian teenager went viral on social media. Reposted by thousands, it gave a sparkling insight into the driver tipped to be the next big thing in Formula One.

In conversation with his engineers at the Formula Two team Prema, Antonelli is asked to recall a host of qualifying lap times from his past few years of racing. This, those present stated, was Antonelli’s biggest talent; not his lightning speed behind the wheel but his meticulous motorsport memory bank. Lo and behold, Antonelli reeled off an array of lap times with precise accuracy. His F2 teammate Ollie Bearman, now at Haas, could only watch on and laugh in disbelief.

It is a fascinating insight into Antonelli, the 18-year-old hotshot on whom the Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has risked his post-Hamilton legacy. A teenager whose mental fortitude is perhaps more impressive than his undoubted raw pace in a racing car. So far, six races in, Wolff’s gamble, replacing one of the greatest of all time with an untried rookie, looks like a masterstroke.

Antonelli has already broken records: the youngest driver to score points, after a sumptuous recovery drive from 16th to fourth in the rain in the season opener in Melbourne. And after his surprise pole position for the sprint race at the last round in Miami, he became the youngest driver to record a pole position in any F1 format. At 21, Sebastian Vettel, the previous record holder, was three years older.