“He’s certainly impressed everyone with the sessions he’s run so far,” Allison commented. “He’d never been in an F1 car, but he looked like he had within a lap or two.
“It’s a cliché, but he’s fast, he’s consistent, didn’t make any mistakes. Young people can be trying to impress so much that they will spin off, or the opposite, they’re so terrified of spinning off that they don’t really show what they can do.
“Kimi seemed to just naturally slip into the right groove on that, giving decent input about how the car felt, while not really putting a foot wrong, so he looks like the real deal.”
Despite a rapid rise to F2 and only being a few rounds into his rookie campaign, Antonelli is one of the names being heavily linked with the vacant seat at Mercedes for 2025 following Lewis Hamilton’s decision to sign for Ferrari.