Mercedes F1 star set to be stripped of major honour

Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli, Ferrari, Mercedes, Australia, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Analysis

Mercedes F1 star set to be stripped of major honour

Kimi Antonelli is under a lot of pressure at Mercedes

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 25 September 2025 17:57

There are several things I’m tired of hearing about on F1 broadcasts, and they proceed as follows:

1. Golf
2. Papaya rules
3. Brad Pitt
4. [Insert driver name here] is a generational talent

Okay, I’m capping the list off at four, because nobody has the time, or patience, to read all 100 things that annoy me about Formula 1.

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Instead, I would like to hone in on one of F1’s supposed generational talents, who has, so far, failed to live up to the label - Kimi Antonelli.

The Italian arrived at Mercedes with high expectations, bolstered by the five regional titles to his name, deemed such a talent he bypassed Formula 3 and was nurtured through Formula 2 by Toto Wolff.

Antonelli’s signing remedied the mistakes of Mercedes' past by snapping up the hottest talent in motorsport, something Wolff failed to achieve with Max Verstappen at the beginning of his career.

Before Antonelli even competed in an F1 car, he was being touted as the ‘next Verstappen’, or a ‘generational talent. And then came FP1 in Monza …

Look, this isn’t an Antonelli hit piece. His mistakes have been rightly criticised in 2025, but his pole position in Miami and podium in Montreal were also flashes of brilliance.

What does need to be dissected however, is how frequently we utilise the phrase ‘next Verstappen’ in reference to a promising young driver.

Fundamentally, these lofty comparisons – with little evidence to back them up – can actually damage the perception of young racing talent. And that is why we need to stop using them.

Antonelli is not the next Verstappen

There! I said it! Not because Antonelli isn’t a good driver, because he is, and could one day be successful in F1. No, instead it is because Verstappen cannot be imitated and we should all stop handing Antonelli the honour of being compared to him.

Red Bull fell into the trap of expecting each junior driver they promoted to be the next Verstappen, and then quickly dismissed them when they, funnily enough, failed to match the champion. And look how that turned out!

Verstappen is unique. It’s unlikely we will ever see another racing driver like him again. His commitment to racing is unmatched in modern F1, instead emulating the likes of Jim Clark and Mario Andretti, who mastered a variety of racing categories in their time.

When Verstappen isn’t on an F1 race track he’s sim racing, or competing in GT3, because the man just loves motorsport. Racing isn’t just what Verstappen does, it’s who he is! This is where he differs to other world champions.

Now, Lewis Hamilton is an unbelievable racing driver, but one who has remained true to other facets of his character, whether that is self-expression via fashion or using his platform to promote social justice.

His alternative pursuits make Hamilton who he is, and one of the greatest in his own right, by balancing these commitments alongside a seven-time title winning career. It is unlikely there will be another driver who transcends F1 and influences popular culture like Hamilton, while enjoying the same level of success.

Albeit for different reasons, this is why Verstappen and Hamilton will always be standout champions in F1 history.

So, when Antonelli is likened to Verstappen and then falls short of these expectations, no wonder there is such a dramatic reaction to his poor performances!

Antonelli might win a world title. He might not. Part of this will depend on luck, whether he is in the right car, at the right point of his career and who he goes up against. But he will never be the next Verstappen, no one will be!

One day, there will be another driver who stuns the sport with their dominance, surprising pundits and fans alike with all they achieve, despite the odds. That’s what is meant by the ‘next Verstappen’ or the 'next Hamilton'.

There’s no way of discerning that potential from a driver’s early career. And we should stop labelling young drivers as such, just because they’ve enjoyed a stratospheric rise through the junior ranks.

Take F2 driver Arvid Lindblad for example. Hailed by Helmut Marko as a driver who could be Red Bull's next champion, this naturally triggers the ‘next Verstappen’ comparisons.

Lindblad isn’t even leading the F2 championship! Leave him alone! By placing such pressure on him, it will only set him up for failure and dampen what may just be a decent F1/motorsport career.

The desire to follow the career of a young driver is understandable, and then be the smug individual in 10 years who can say: “I knew it. From the moment I saw them. I knew they’d be great!”

However, 99.9 per cent of the time, that young driver won’t be a generational talent. There’s no point searching for the ‘next Verstappen’, when we still have so much of the champion’s career to enjoy.

F1 has a list of 34 champions, and not all of them are called Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. There’s still a way for Antonelli to make his mark in the sport, even if he doesn’t reach the dizzying heights of the all-time greats.

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Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

View full biography

Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Kimi Antonelli