Kimi Antonelli joined the Mercedes junior team back in 2018 and six years later, he will be racing in the 2024 FIA Formula 2 championship with Prema Racing.
Antonelli was announced as part of the Mercedes junior driver academy program at a relatively young age with the Italian racing in karts at the time. It wasn't until 2021 where Antonelli stepped up to single seater racing as he raced with Prema Racing in the Italian F4 championship.
He also competed in two other series that year which were both again with Prema Racing in the UAE and the other being the FIA Central European Zone Formula 4 championship.
Image: FiaFormula2.com
In 2022, Antonelli competed in the Italian F4 championship with Prema Racing where he competed in every race unlike the year previous and won the championship having won 13 of the 20 races.
Antonelli also competed in the ADAC Formula 4 championship that year with Prema Racing where despite missing the first round, won the championship with 9 wins in 15 races.
"I was really happy to have won both because, at the end, the German level is still high because still most good drivers are there." He said at the end of the year to formulascout.com .
This year, Antonelli made the move to the Formula Reginal European championship (also known as FRECA) where five wins and 11 podiums in 20 races was enough to win the championship for Antonelli with Prema Racing.
The Italian also competed in the Formula Reginal Middle East championship as well where he also won the championship with three wins and seven podiums getting the job done for Antonelli.
Antonelli made one appearances in the Italian championship Sprint-GT3 Pro Championship where he won on one of two occasions.
Now, it has been announced that Antonelli will continue with Prema Racing, the team he has raced for in every year of his single seater career next year but it will be in the FIA Formula 2 championship for 2024 making the jump over FIA Formula 3 championship.
It is thought that Mercedes want Antonelli in a Formula 1 seat by 2026 meaning unless he wins in his first year in the championship, Antonelli will spend at least two years in the championship.
With Lewis Hamilton's contract expiring at the end of the 2025 season, could this open the door for Antonelli to take his seat or will he join a team lower down the grid to start with? Time will tell.