Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Italian: [anˈdrɛːa ˈkiːmi antoˈnɛlli]; born 25 August 2006) is an Italian racing driver who competes in Formula One for Mercedes. Antonelli has won eight Formula One Grands Prix since his debut in 2025.
Born and raised in Bologna, Antonelli is the son of sportscar racing driver Marco Antonelli. After a successful karting career—culminating in back-to-back victories at the senior European Championship in 2020 and 2021—Antonelli graduated to junior formulae. He won his first titles in Italian and ADAC F4 in 2022 with Prema; in addition to becoming a race-winner in Italian GT3, he also won a gold medal for Italy at the FIA Motorsport Games. He then claimed both the Formula Regional European and Middle East Championships before progressing to FIA Formula 2 in 2024, winning two races as he finished sixth.
A member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2019, Antonelli signed for Mercedes in 2025, replacing Lewis Hamilton to partner George Russell and becoming the third-youngest driver in Formula One history at the Australian Grand Prix, aged 18; he achieved his maiden podium finish in his rookie season at the Canadian Grand Prix and became the youngest driver to set a fastest lap. Mercedes emerged as the lead contender in 2026, with Antonelli winning eight Grands Prix—including his home Grand Prix in Italy—while becoming the youngest-ever polesitter in China and the youngest World Drivers' Championship leader in Japan.
As of the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix, Antonelli has achieved eight race wins, six pole positions, ten fastest laps, and fifteen podiums in Formula One. In addition to the accolades above, he holds several Formula One records, including being the youngest driver to lead a lap and to score a grand chelem. Antonelli is contracted to remain at Mercedes until at least the end of the 2027 season.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was born on 25 August 2006 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. His father, Marco Antonelli, is a sportscar racing driver and owner of the San Marino–based AKM Motorsport racing team, which has competed in the Italian F4 Championship since 2022. He founded Antonelli Motorsport in 1993, which competed in several GT series, winning the 2018 Italian GT Championship. His mother, Veronica Pomaro, is a former employee of Poste Italiane and has worked in motorsport since 1997, helping Marco operate AKM. He has a younger sister named Maggie.
Antonelli shares his middle name with the forename of Kimi Räikkönen—the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Champion; Antonelli has stated that the name was given by Enrico Bertaggia to his father, who wanted his son to have a foreign name after "Andrea", and that he was not named after Räikkönen. He studied international relations and marketing at ITCS Gaetano Salvemini in Casalecchio di Reno and learned to speak English during his race weekends, as well as German upon joining the Mercedes Junior Team. His father initially wanted him to play football in Italy before entering him into karting, as he showed more passion for motorsport. He grew up idolising three-time World Drivers' Champion Ayrton Senna and would watch DVD footage of his triumphs with his father; he also idolised Argentine footballer Lionel Messi. He first drove a Lamborghini Super Trofeo at the age of nine, with his father operating the pedals.
2014–2017: Career beginnings and international debut
Antonelli was introduced to kart racing through his father and, aged five, began driving at Galliano Park in Forlì. He started competing two years later and won championships in several categories of the discipline. After attending a summer camp with the Automobile Club d'Italia in 2014, Antonelli was scouted by Giovanni Minardi—the son of Giancarlo—who signed him to Minardi Management. He moved to Birel ART's Easykart spec series in 2015, where he won the Trofeo Italia in the 60 cc class, as well as the International Grand Final from twenty-first on the grid; he also reached the final of the WSK Final Cup in 60 Mini. Antonelli entered several major competitions with Tony Kart in 2016, achieving podium finishes in the Italian Cup and Trofeo delle Industrie, as well as the WSK Super Master Series in 2017. He won the third round of the Italian Championship that year at Battipaglia.
2018–2019: International success as a Mercedes Junior
Signing to the Mercedes Junior Team in 2018, Antonelli joined Energy Corse and won the WSK Champions Cup, South Garda Winter Cup, and ROK Cup International Final in the mini classes that year, as well as finishing runner-up to Martinius Stenshorne in the Italian Championship. Antonelli progressed to OK-Junior—the premier under-15 international karting category—in 2019, winning six international titles: the South Garda Winter Cup, WSK Super Master Series,
WSK Euro Series, WSK Open Cup, and WSK Final Cup, as well as his first Italian Championship, all with Rosberg Racing Academy. He entered his first CIK-FIA European and World Championships that year, finishing runner-up to Marcus Amand at the former after winning the final round at Le Mans and fifth at the latter. He closed his junior karting career in the United States, where he was runner-up to Brent Crews at the SKUSA SuperNationals in KA100 Junior and won both junior titles in the SKUSA Winter Series with a perfect record.
2020–2021: Dominance in senior classes
In 2020, Antonelli progressed to the senior Original Kart (OK) class with Kart Republic, aged 13. In addition to finishing third at the South Garda Winter Cup and runner-up to Nikita Bedrin at the WSK Super Master Series, he won the WSK Euro Series and Italian Championship. As a rookie, he became the youngest senior European Champion in history, two weeks after turning 14. Antonelli retired from the final of the World Championship at Portimão with an injury; he collided with the stationary kart of Maya Weug in wet-weather conditions, suffering a broken left tibia and metatarsus. For his efforts in 2020, Antonelli was named "Rookie of the Year" by the Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK-FIA).
Antonelli moved to the professional KZ gearbox class upon his return in 2021. He struggled with braking throughout the year due to his leg injuries. Bidding to become the youngest-ever KZ World Champion—a record held by Max Verstappen since 2013—he finished fifteenth after taking pole position for the heats. He further took pole as a guest driver at Adria in the KZ European Championship. He successfully defended his OK European Championship, dominating the season with five wins from eight rounds, and finished runner-up to Rafael Câmara at the WSK Champions Cup and WSK Super Master Series. Upon his graduation to junior formulae, Vroomkart opined that Antonelli's karting career "already [foretold a] classic anthology of a champion".
Three weeks after he turned 15, Antonelli made his junior formulae debut in the fifth round of the 2021 Italian F4 Championship, driving for Prema at the Red Bull Ring. He had tested Formula 4 (F4) machinery at the circuit with his father's AKM Motorsport team in March, whilst recovering from his broken leg, as well as at Vallelunga and a five-day Ferrari Driver Academy scouting camp at Fiorano, which he was nominated for by the Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI). On debut, he finished ninth—the highest-placed rookie—in his first race and scored four points across the weekend. Antonelli scored further points in the following round at Mugello, before his breakout weekend in the final event at Monza. He finished second in the opener after a race-long battle with champion-elect Oliver Bearman and scored additional podiums in both remaining races. Antonelli finished tenth in the overall standings—having contested three of seven rounds—and fourth in the rookies' championship with four wins in the category.
2022: Maiden championships and gold medal
In preparation for his primary campaigns with Prema in 2022, Antonelli contested select rounds of the F4 UAE Championship, now signed by the ACI as a member of its "Team Italia" by virtue of winning the Supercorso Federale in November 2021. He finished third after qualifying on pole position for the non-championship trophy round, held in support of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He was originally set to only contest round three of the main championship, but a COVID-19 diagnosis for karting rival Rafael Câmara saw Antonelli replace him in the season-opener, where he took three consecutive on-track victories, demoted to third in the latter following a post-race penalty. Another podium in the reverse-grid final race saw him lead the championship by 34 points; he did not contest the second round, as planned. Accumulating another podium in the final race of round three at Dubai—again being penalised from victory—Antonelli ended eighth in the standings after contesting two of five rounds. He remained in Italian F4 for the first of his main campaigns, taking pole for the Imola season-opener before retiring with a gearbox issue. He received front wing damage after clipping a kerb in race two, and was penalised for a collision with teammate James Wharton in the final race which demoted him from fourth to tenth. His fortunes changed with two wins in the next round at Misano, followed by six consecutive victories at Spa-Francorchamps and Vallelunga—where he took three grands chelems—which propelled him to lead the standings ahead of Câmara. Further wins at the Red Bull Ring and Monza consolidated his championship advantage, with his streak of seven consecutive victories ended by a puncture, prior to clinching the title with victory in the first race of the season-ending Mugello round. He won the remaining two races, ending the season on a then-record 13 victories as a rookie.