Between school and racing: Kimi Antonelli’s focus ahead of the Austrian GP. Kimi Antonelli shares his experience taking Italy’s high school final exam.

Kimi Antonelli talks about his final high school exam and his desire to refocus on F1: “I chose the essay on respect, now back to racing.”

Stepping onto a Formula 1 podium and then returning to Italy for the final high school exam—because despite being a racing driver, Kimi Antonelli is still a regular young man, and this was one of the most important moments in a person’s life. Today, the Mercedes driver sat the first test of the 2025 Maturità exam at the Salvemini Institute in Casalecchio di Reno.

After testing his skills on track, the young driver from Bologna faced the feared Italian language exam, tackling it with pen and paper.

Which essay topic did Kimi Antonelli choose?
After the exam, Kimi Antonelli shared his first impressions, showing his usual composure even outside the cockpit: “It was easy, I tried to do my best and now I’ll wait for the result. I chose Type B, about current events, and the topic I picked was about respect.” The essay topic he selected focused on the 1930s and the New Deal, requiring an argumentative text starting from an excerpt by Piers Brendon.

The second test will be in a foreign language, but Kimi said he feels more at ease with that one, given his daily use of English in the paddock: “Tomorrow it’s English, so I’m more relaxed about it, but I’ll still study a bit because… even if I speak English well, I still need to be prepared.”

His focus is already shifting to the oral exam and the upcoming F1 round in Austria: “For the oral, I’m trying to make as many connections as possible, study as many topics as I can, and concentrate on the most important concepts.”

When asked whether he would bring his schoolbooks with him to the race weekend in Spielberg, Kimi Antonelli responded with determination: “No, no. Let’s try to finish before Austria, so I can be done with school and fully concentrate on racing.”

Between school and motorsport, Kimi Antonelli once again shows maturity and focus—qualities that make him one of the most promising young talents in Italian and international racing.