“Age is no barrier to greatness” – this seems to be the mindset of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff right now. The Austrian wishes to hire Kimi Antonelli, a 17-year-old Formula 2 driver, to replace Lewis Hamilton. As the seven-time World Champion is going to Ferrari next season, the Stuttgart outfit needs to hire a new recruit to step into his shoes. Now, there were various options open to Wolff, including Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, and Kimi Antonelli. However, the billionaire stakeholder of Mercedes seemingly wants to opt for Antonelli’s talent over the experience of Sainz and Ocon.

As the summer break in F1 has started, there has been a new development in the silly season. Esteban Ocon had already announced he was going to Haas a few days ago, and yesterday, Carlos Sainz went to Williams too. With this, there are now 4 places left in the 2025 drivers’ line-up, one of them being at Mercedes. So, Guenther Steiner talked about the possibilities of the Silver Arrows announcing Kimi Antonelli as their new driver for next year’s campaign.

Carlos Sainz has been a recruit under one of the top F1 teams, Ferrari, since 2021. But now that he is exiting the Italian outfit, some F1 fans thought he would go for Mercedes. In fact, Wolff had confirmed he was in talks with Sainz. He said, “We want to work for the young drivers. We also said that to Carlos.” But now that the #55 racer has announced he will move to Williams, the chances of Mercedes recruiting Kimi Antonelli have increased.

So, Steiner said on ‘The Red Flags Podcast’, “I think [at] Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli is going.” The Italian former F1 Team Principal’s speculations might be on point, given Toto Wolff had said something similar in June. He had told Sky Sports Deutschland, “We just want to concentrate on Andrea Kimi Antonelli.” But Steiner did not just end his list of possible driver moves with Kimi Antonelli, considering the other silly season guesses that the ex-Haas boss made in his podcast interviews.

Guenther Steiner reveals the fate of other F1 teams

With Carlos Sainz’s switch to Williams, the 2025 F1 grid still needs 4 new recruits right now. For the place left beside George Russell at Mercedes, Guenther Steiner has already named Kimi Antonelli as the top choice. But there are openings at Kick Sauber, Alpine, and Racing Bull as well, with him remarking, “Who’s going now to Sauber? I think they will keep [Valtteri] Bottas.” The Finn is currently driving for Kick Sauber, but his contract will end this year. And Steiner believes the team will renew his deal for their next year’s campaign as well.

Speaking on who might steal the seat at Alpine, Guenther Steiner could not come up with a concrete guess. He said, “There’ll be a mad dash for this Alpine seat.” And how right he seems to be! There’s Mick Schumacher from the Enstone outfit’s World Endurance Championship team who is already vying for the F1 seat. Meanwhile, Jack Doohan, the Alpine reserve driver, will also be going for it. Moreover, besides Schumacher and Doohan, Alpine might even look to take up a junior racer from Formula 2 for 2025.

While Steiner (and Toto Wolff himself) seems to favor Kimi Antonelli for the Mercedes seat, the announcement from the German manufacturers will come anytime now. Do you agree with Wolff that Antonelli should be the next Mercedes star? Share your opinion in the comments below.