Lining up for your debut Formula 1® Grand Prix is an incredibly daunting experience. Add to this the pressure of being 18 years old and doing so for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1® racing team, in a seat vacated by a seven-time world champion, and you would be forgiven for not wanting any more challenges.

Challenges like torrential rain that made Melbourne’s notoriously difficult Albert Park street circuit even more so, its ice-like painted white lines and inconsistent grip ensuring Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s first F1® race was not so much a baptism of fire as a baptism of water. Thanks to damage sustained during a qualifying mishap, ahead there were 14 sets of blinking rain lights diffused through the hanging spray.

That was one less set of lights than there should have been because the conditions were so treacherous fellow F1® rookie Isack Hadjar crashed in Turn 2, something another rookie Jack Doohan repeated just moments after the start of the race on the run to Turn 6.

Kimi’s first race wasn’t without incident – he came back from a spin on lap 15 – but a combination of fine driving and the right team strategy saw him pass the chequered flag in an incredible fourth place, one position behind lead driver George Russell. In doing so, he became the second-youngest driver in F1® history to score championship points.

“That was an incredibly eventful race,” Kimi said afterwards. “The conditions were super tricky out there. I was happy with how we managed everything from start to finish and to come home P4, having started P16, is really positive. I definitely can’t complain about how my debut race in F1® has gone.”

Welcome to the family, Kimi

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1® team principal Toto Wolff took a risk in promoting Kimi to a race driver for 2025. A safer course of action would have been to hire a more experienced driver for one of the most coveted seats in F1®, but Toto believed in the speed and potential of the young Italian, and was fully aware there would be ups and downs.

That opening race in Albert Park set the tone – a mistake in qualifying and a spin in the race, but also incredible ability and a great result.

Kimi quickly showed Australia was no fluke, with sixth place finishes in four of the next five races, along the way becoming the youngest-ever driver to clinch a pole position – achieved in qualifying for the Miami sprint race – lead an F1® race and set a fastest lap, the latter two records achieved at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Halfway there

But true character is shown in the bad times, and Kimi’s was tested with two mechanical problems either side of an 18th-place finish in Monaco. A substantial car update produced his first F1® podium subsequently in Canada – and the team’s first double-podium of the year, with George winning – but the competitiveness did not translate to other circuits.

Accidents put paid to Kimi’s next two races – colliding with Max Verstappen on the first lap in Austria before being taken out by Isack Hadjar at Silverstone – but the team struggled in Belgium.

At the halfway mark of the season, Toto reflected on Kimi’s first 12 races: “Kimi obviously started very strong, with a race that was fantastic under wet conditions… We knew there would be ups and downs; that’s part of the development curve.

“In Miami, in the sprint qualifying, he had his first pole, and that was completely on merit. The next highlights followed, with a podium in Montreal. We mustn’t forget he’s 18 years old and he’s going to learn a lot. He’s going to make mistakes and on other days he’s going to be brilliant.”

A revised car specification immediately paid dividends, with George scoring podiums in three of the next five championship races, including a second win in Singapore. Kimi’s fortunes also improved, finishing in the points in the next four races. A week after his 19th birthday, however, penalties demoted him to 16th at Zandvoort for causing a collision with Charles Leclerc.

A big finish

At this point, it would be understandable if Kimi’s form began to fade. Even seasoned F1® drivers can struggle with the demands of a gruelling 24-race season and, prior to this year, the teen's longest season had been the 13-round F2 championship with races less than half the length.

Instead, Kimi went from strength to strength. A sixth place in Mexico marked the first time he finished ahead of his teammate, followed by his strongest weekend of the year with a pair of second places in the Brazilian sprint and feature races – before topping it off with another podium in Las Vegas.

It would be the season’s penultimate race in Qatar that would reveal the darker side of elite sport. Running fourth on the second-last lap, Kimi ran wide and lost a place to Lando Norris, leading to a torrent of online accusations that it was done deliberately to influence the outcome of the world championship.

Happily, the entire F1® paddock came to his defence. “I got a lot of support from the people I trust and from the drivers and it was nice and it really helped to forget what happened,” he told the media. “I know F1 is working hard on [online abuse]... we just need to make sure it doesn’t happen as often because it’s not nice to see. At the end of the day, we are athletes and compete with the best and we try to do our best when we go on track.”

Kimi Antonelli’s outstanding season

In total, Kimi scored 150 points in his debut F1® season, the most by any rookie under the current system. As expected, it has been a year of highs and lows, triumphs and mistakes, but Kimi’s performances have vindicated the team’s bold decision to promote the youngster to the highest level.

“Kimi’s season has been incredibly encouraging,” says team representative Bradley Lord. “The fact he was able to work his way out of the dip that he and the team experienced in the summer was incredibly important.”

After such a long year, a well-earned rest was in order, but two days after the final grand prix, Kimi completed another 145 laps – two-and-a-half race distances – of Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit behind the wheel of Mercedes-AMG’s ‘mule’ car to test the 2026 tyres and aerodynamics ahead of revolutionary new technical regulations being introduced.

Despite the intensity of his 2025, Kimi is raring to go for his second season. “I want to say a massive thank you to the whole team, both here trackside and those colleagues and the factories in Brackley and Brixworth too, for all their hard work,” he says.

“Even though we’ve just finished this year, and my own rookie season, I can’t wait to get started on what is ahead. We’ve got a big few months ahead of us with the exciting challenge that next year presents and it’s one all of us are looking forward to.”