18-year-old Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli shed some light on his relationship with former Mercedes driver, current reserve driver Valtteri Bottas, in a media session at the F1 Saudi Arabian GP. The rookie driver appreciates the advice he receives, which has made him a stronger driver. This willingness to listen to people experienced in Formula One means all the difference in the extremely close 2025 season so far.
The rookie is game to receive any advice possible at this point in his career
The young rookie driver recognizes how much he has to learn about this sport and his Mercedes team, and is open to hearing any pieces of advice that are offered to him, as he said in his interview with the media last weekend.
“I’m never going to refuse or, you know, I’m never going to listen to any advice they give you. Because, obviously, first of all, you know, I’m just a young fella coming into the world of F1. And I’ve got so much more to learn and, yes, a lot of experience.
“So, there’s no reason why I wouldn’t listen to any of this advice. And, of course, I try to embrace it and try to put it on track as well, what they learn. So, it’s been extremely helpful.”
With a team that has an extensive recent history of success like Mercedes, it seems as though Antonelli is making the most out of the resources and insight he has available to him. One of these resources is Valtteri Bottas.
Antonelli on how a key insight from Bottas helped him find pace in Suzuka
Back in Suzuka, Bottas was able to help Antonelli with his pace within the Japanese GP weekend. From down in P16 in FP2, Antonelli’s pace improved enough to earn him P6 in qualifying and P6 in the race as well.
“So, there’s no reason why I wouldn’t listen to any of this advice. And, of course, I try to embrace it and try to put it on track as well, what they learn. So, it’s been extremely helpful.”
When asked specifically what this piece of advice was, Antonelli shared that it had to do with tyre warm-up. Having raced with the Mercedes team for five seasons, Bottas has the experience to find minuscule missteps which, when fixed, can lead to a significant improvement.
“In Suzuka definitely I was struggling a lot with warm-up. And from you know, past events, he used to be really good in tracks where time was really close. So, definitely that was a really good help for me.
“Explaining the best things to do in the warm-up in order to be able to, you know, extract the best of the time. And having the tyres ready for the lap. So, mainly it’s all about, not really, not much driving.”
Antonelli has entered Formula One at a point where 0.1 of a second in qualifying could mean a three-place difference on the starting grid. This means that as a rookie driver, any suggestions that could shave off a small amount of lap time are a huge help.
“It’s all about these little details that can make a difference on track.”
