Last summer, just before Kimi Antonelli was announced as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes, a video of the Italian teenager went viral on social media. Reposted by thousands, it gave a sparkling insight into the driver tipped to be the next big thing in Formula One.
In conversation with his engineers at the Formula Two team Prema, Antonelli is asked to recall a host of qualifying lap times from his past few years of racing. This, those present stated, was Antonelli’s biggest talent; not his lightning speed behind the wheel but his meticulous motorsport memory bank. Lo and behold, Antonelli reeled off an array of lap times with precise accuracy. His F2 teammate Ollie Bearman, now at Haas, could only watch on and laugh in disbelief.
