Watch: Kimi Antonelli spotted in the MotoGP paddock during the San Marino GP at Misano

Kimi Antonelli was spotted at the MotoGP paddock during the 2024 San Marino Grand Prix. The Mercedes prodigy, away from his F2 duties, was present in the Aprilia garage during his short visit to Misano Adriatico.

MotoGP is currently hosting its 13th race of the 2024 season in Italy, and Saturday marked the FP3, qualifying session and Sprint race. Francesco Bagnaia of the Ducati Lenovo Team claimed the pole position ahead of Franco Morbidelli of Prima Pramac Racing.

Antonelli was present inside the Aprilia Racing's garage to support Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro, who did not have a decent outing in qualifying. Vinales qualified in P11, whereas his teammate qualified two places behind in P13.

Via their official X account, MotoGP uploaded a video of the Italian prodigy where the upcoming Mercedes driver was seen conversing with Massimo Rivola, the team principal of Aprilia Racing. MotoGP uploaded the video with the caption,

"Future @MercedesAMGF1 driver spotted! Andrea Kimi Antonelli is here. #SanMarinoGP."

Notably, the F2 driver was in Italy because of the 2024 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Kimi Antonelli had a double header where he had to appear for his usual F2 duty with Prema Racing, and FP1 duty with Mercedes.

The Italian prodigy took over George Russell's W-15 in the first session, however, within 10 minutes of the session, he crashed at the Parabolica. The 18-year-old carried too much speed into the Parabolica turn, lost control, and hit the barrier.

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Kimi Antonelli announced his racing number in Formula 1

Kimi Antonelli drives the (12) Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team F1 W15 Source: Getty Images

Mercedes signed Kimi Antonelli as a replacement for the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton during the recently concluded Italian Grand Prix. Antonelli will join George Russell and lead Mercedes' attack for the 2025 season.

Amid this, he announced the racing number that he would want to use on the Silver Arrows car. When asked, Antonelli immediately answered "12" as the number he would prefer.

"I have many numbers that I like, but 12 is a special one. I have been using it since F4 [and] it always went well, so there’s no reason to change it for next year,” Antonelli said.

Speaking about his Mercedes opportunity, the young Italian further added,

"Obviously it’s something I’ve been dreaming of since a very young age. To finally be announced as a driver for 2025 is such a great feeling. I cannot wait to get started,” he added.

Antonelli used #12 as his number when he won the Italian and ADAC F4 titles in 2022, and then the Middle East and European Formula Regional crowns in 2023.