New Mercedes Driver Just Passed His Road Driving Test A Month Before His Rookie F1 Season

There will be a few new faces on the Formula 1 grid in 2025, but I think it's safe to say none are as highly anticipated as Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Obviously, having to replace one of the best to ever do it in Lewis Hamilton is going to come with a lot of pressure, but at just 18, Mercedes seem pretty sure that he's up for the challenge.

What's wild though, is the 18-year-old was deemed F1-ready before he had even passed his road driving test in his native Italy.

Antonelli posted a photo of himself celebrating the accomplishment.

I think we can definitely say he's one of the only people on Earth who can say they had an FIA super license before having a regular driver's license like the rest of us.

Which, to that point, shouldn't he be able to get some kind of waiver? I mean, after you finish P5 in Formula 2 and get the nod to replace Lewis Hamilton, maybe you shouldn't have to waste an afternoon proving that you know how to use turn signals.

Seems like there could be better uses for everyone's time…

Anyway, Antonelli is about a month away from hopping the cockpit of a 2025 Mercedes Formula 1 car for testing in Bahrain, a couple of weeks before the season opener in Australia.

It'll be interesting to see which version of Mercedes shows up at the first few races. They've tended to be streaky at times in recent years. 

On some weekends, they were not only competitive but actually winning races.

Then, on other weekends, they pretty much showed up at the track with a car that handled like a shopping cart.

I think the hardest place to be a rookie in any sport is Formula 1 based on how little time you get in the car outside of race weekends, and that's what Antonelli will be faced with.

He's not the only rookie on this year's grid, but he's easily the most high-profile and should be on the most competitive team compared to other first-year drivers like Haas' Ollie Bearman, Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, ALpine's Mick Doohan, and RB's Isack Hadjar.