F1 News: How Italian sensation Kimi Antonelli was rejected by Ferrari

Kimi Antonelli

How Italian F1 sensation Kimi Antonelli was rejected by Ferrari

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Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 6 April 2026 08:27 Updated: 08:35

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In an alternate universe, Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli could have risen to F1 with Ferrari, but instead, they were responsible for perhaps the biggest driver fumble in recent years.

It's easy to say now that Ferrari should have signed Antonelli to their young driver academy, after all he's a two-time race winner and in the lead of a championship.

Yet it was only last year we were asking 'has Antonelli been promoted too soon?' 'Should he be in a Williams instead of a Mercedes?' All of which were valid concerns, given his terrible run of form during the European portion of the 2025 season.

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His potential from karting and junior formulae was clear however, with Antonelli securing multiple karting and Formula Regional titles as he rose through the single-seater ranks.

An Italian karting sensation, tipped to be a generational talent. Surely, that would be right up Ferrari's signing street? Well...apparently not.

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Ferrari rejected Kimi Antonelli

According to The Race, even at 11 there was a huge buzz around young Kimi Antonelli and naturally this caught the interest of the Ferrari driver academy.

At the time the academy was headed by Massimo Rivola, who believed he had found the 'special one' for the future. Antonelli signed by Ferrari? It would have all been too perfect!

Except one senior figure wasn't taken in by the fairytale. Rivola's recommendation was overruled by Ferrari's team principal at the time Maurizio Arrivabene, who argued that Antonelli was 'too small' to be a serious prospect.

The rest, as they say, is history with Mercedes chief Toto Wolff swanning in and signing Antonelli to the Mercedes junior team in 2019, when the Italian was just 12-years-old.

Now he's proven himself in F1 however, it might not be long before Antonelli once again becomes a contender at Ferrari himself, begging the question: Can the Scuderia once again have an Italian champion in red?

The last this happened was all the way back in 1953, where Alberto Ascari won his second world title with Ferrari - who was also coincidentally the last Italian to win a drivers' championship.

F1 Ferrari Mercedes Kimi Antonelli