"If anything, he was too confident": F1 pundit's verdict on Kimi Antonelli's first FP1 run

F1 pundit Scott Mitchell-Malm recently talked about Kimi Antonelli's debut race session at the 2024 F1 Italian GP. The Mercedes junior drove in FP1 on Friday but soon crashed out while clocking a fast lap.

After Lewis Hamilton announced his departure from Silver Arrows, the team was forced to look for another driver as his replacement. Among many names, their junior Kimi Antonelli was also mentioned in rumors and reports. In 2024, Antonelli raced with Prema Racing in the F2 Championship.

Fast forward to the Italian GP, Mercedes announced that Antonelli would debut in F1 during FP1, taking George Russell's car. During the race session, Antonelli clocked an extremely fast lap in the first few minutes but then crashed out of the session by hitting the barriers hard at the Parabolica turn.

Speaking on "The Race F1" podcast, Mitchell-Malm initially praised Anotnelli's skill and determination that shone in the first few minutes of FP1. He then talked about the crash and explained that he was too confident and ambitious. The F1 pundit also speculated that Antonelli was trying to extract the level of performance from the car that was not present at that moment.

"He's obviously a very good driver. So you saw that, that's what you saw in those first couple of laps that he was able to do in FP1. You saw a driver that was not overawed by the situation. Because he did not crash because he was overawed by it, he did not crash because he was panicking, he was out of his depth or anything like that. If anything, he was too confident, he was over-ambitious," Michell-Malm said (10:08).

"He kind of wanted to do something that the car was not yet capable of, but he thought he was as a driver. He just looked confident, competent and comfortable I would say, up until the point where he stuffed it into the barriers," he added.

Despite his crash at Monza, Mercedes hired Kimi Antonelli for the 2025 F1 season. He will officially replace Lewis Hamilton after 2024 and race alongside George Russell.

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Mercedes team boss on how Kimi Antonelli's future in F1 would pan out

Toto Wolff, Mercedes's team boss, recently discussed the difficulties that Kimi Antonelli may have in F1 in the future. Speaking to F1.com, Wolff lauded the young Italian who will shortly join his squad in 2025.

The 52-year-old went on to say that the team will work to provide Antonelli with room and safety so he can develop and become more knowledgeable about the sport. Although Wolff reassured everyone that Antonelli would eventually become a star, he was also well aware that the young man may encounter challenging times and pressure from the F1 world.

“There is no doubt he has the talent, the ability, the skills – and now it’s about allowing him space to grow up within this crazy tough ruthless environment and we will protect him and allow him to grow. We expect difficult moments. People will doubt. We will see highlights also. Kimi will be the real deal in a while, maybe not yet,” Wolff said.

As of now, Kimi Antonelli will continue his F2 Championship run with Prema Racing. He drives alongside Ferrari junior, Oliver Bearman, who will also join F1 next year with Haas.