It's Antonelli's day, the predestined one awaited by all of F.1

A bright look under a bob of dark curls. Andrea Kimi Antonelli could be mistaken for a kid on his first day at school. And after all, making his F1 debut with a Mercedes at just 18 years old is a bit like living a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. It was Toto Wolff, the charismatic boss of the team that won 8 constructors' world championships between 2014 and 2021, who gave him what the person concerned called "the big break". He signed him when he was a tiny 11 and a half years old and in the first year of middle school in Casalecchio di Reno, near Bologna. The tip from Gwen Lagrue, his observer on the karting tracks, where Antonelli competed in the 60 Mini category, was enough to convince him that one day that child could take Lewis Hamilton's place. The day has finally arrived and Kimi is preparing to face, starting tomorrow in the Bahrain tests, his first season as an official driver for the Star.