F4: Mercedes protege on Toto Wolff’s radar

16-year old Andrea Kimi Antonelli from Bologna, Italy has clinched the ADAC Italian F4 championship with 3 races remaining with 9 wins in 15 races.

A Max Verstappen-like dominance.

A Mercedes F1 Junior Academy driver, Antonelli is expected to step up to F3 in 2023.

He knows what he’s doing. 😉 A perfect weekend for our Junior Driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli in ADAC F4!

Three races. Three wins for the Italian. 🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/nx9avKJkXB

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) May 18, 2022

“I receive a message from Toto Wolff after every race weekend,” said Antonelli, who wrapped up his ADAC F4 title at the Nurburgring, quoted by Speedweek.

“He is very interested in my performance and regularly congratulates me on my successes. It’s great to be in contact with him.”

Toto Wolff when quizzed by the Italian edition of Motorsport.com in May 2021 about his own future after F1, whether “one day we will sit together at a kart track and watch the young talent rise to the top”, Wolff replied: “We will watch Andrea Kimi Antonelli rise to Formula 1 and win races.”