Ferrari rejected Kimi Antonelli before Mercedes signed him, according to Red Bull chief advisor

Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko has shared that Ferrari had the first shot at picking Kimi Antonelli, but they opted not to before Mercedes snapped him up. The young Italian driver will be making his F1 debut at the Italian GP FP1 this weekend. What makes things even more interesting is that not only is he making his debut, he will be running with Lewis Hamilton alongside him in the other car.

There are quite a few people who would be keeping a close eye on what Kimi Antonelli can do in an F1 car, and there would be plenty of others keeping a close eye on the timesheets when both he and Lewis Hamilton push their cars. Much has, however, been said about the young Italian and how he finds himself fast-tracked into F1.

He just turned 18 a few weeks ago and will be an F1 driver next season. Helmut Marko, however, revealed an interesting detail that Kimi Antonelli was first racing for Tony Kart which is associated with Ferrari and hence it was assumed that he would be snapped up by the Italian team.

When Ferrari passed up on signing Kimi Antonelli, it was Mercedes who picked him up. Talking to the Inside Line podcast, Red Bull's Helmut Marko was questioned why the Austrian brand has not approached Kimi to which he revealed:

“No, he was driving for Tony Kart. Tony Kart in the past had a co-operation with Ferrari, and, of course, we watched a little bit but you can’t have all the drivers, especially if they’re so young. And Ferrari obviously didn’t take Antonelli even though they had first choice, and it was Mercedes who signed him up. And now, yeah, let’s see. He did very well, but let’s see what he’s doing in Formula One.”

Helmut Marko backs Mercedes giving Kimi Antonelli the shot

When questioned if Toto Wolff did the right thing by giving Kimi Antonelli the shot, Helmut Marko agreed and said that if there's a driver that has talent, he should be put in the car to see what he can achieve. Red Bull had historically done the same with Max Verstappen in 2016, when mid-season the team just promoted him to the senior team.

On this, Marko told the aforementioned podcast:

“I mean I’m not so informed about the details from Antonelli. I know he was testing a lot in a two-year-old Formula One car. But if someone has a talent, and the team is brave enough to do it, I mean we showed it with Max, and then it’s working. And I think it’s the right approach. If someone is coming up, it doesn’t matter how old he is when he has a talent, then let’s get him in the car.”

Kimi Antonelli's first F2 season started in a less-than-impressive fashion, but a lot of it has been attributed to his team Prema being unable to find its feet with the new regulations.

Kimi has recently started performing better and won two races to reinforce the trust Mercedes had in him.