Andrea Kimi Antonelli is experiencing his very first season in Formula 1 as a full-time driver at the wheel of Mercedes. The 14 rounds already completed in the 2025 championship have represented a real rollercoaster of emotions for the young Italian driver. At the beginning of the season, Antonelli showed himself to be very solid, consistent and focused. Even though he was not yet at the level of his teammate George Russell – and in reality nobody was expecting him to be – the Italian still managed, at least until Formula 1 arrived in Europe, to always bring the car to the chequered flag and to collect some valuable points for the Constructors’ Championship.
However, the start of the European leg of the calendar brought with it some difficulties that Andrea Kimi Antonelli, even now, seems to be struggling to overcome. After the retirements at Imola and Barcelona, combined with the zero points scored in Monaco, his podium finish in Canada – the first of his career in Formula 1 – had seemed like the perfect result to erase those recent shadows. That podium had given the impression that his confidence was restored. Yet the mistake made in Austria, which led to another retirement, followed by yet another DNF at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix, once again brought back doubts and uncertainties inside his cockpit. In the last four races, that is since that third place in Montreal, Antonelli has managed to secure only a single point, which came from his tenth-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Marko attacks Mercedes: “They do not have the luxury of a second team, Antonelli needs time”
Among those who have decided to comment on the difficult moment experienced by the Italian rookie, somewhat surprisingly, was Red Bull’s long-serving senior advisor Helmut Marko. In an interview with F1 Insider, Marko revealed that he had a brief conversation during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend with Antonelli himself, a meeting that was probably coincidental. On that occasion, the young Mercedes driver opened up to him: “Antonelli is a very fast driver, but he is also very young. Strangely enough, we spoke in the hotel at Spa and he told me that he has no confidence in the car. As soon as he tries to push, he loses control.”
Dr. Helmut Marko, as reported by Crash.net, continued his reflection: “I believe it is more of a mental issue. In addition, he drives a car with a very specific and narrow working window, similar to ours. Kimi needs time to recover and adapt. Lawson had the opportunity to do that with Racing Bulls, but fortunately for us, Mercedes cannot afford the luxury of a second team.”
This final remark was certainly not thrown in by chance. Marko made it clear that he did not wish to directly comment on the work done by other teams, but in practice he could not resist and pointed the finger at Mercedes: “They do not have a junior team to rely on. Our young drivers, before stepping up to Red Bull Racing, have the possibility to race with Racing Bulls so that they are not immediately exposed to the enormous pressure of Formula 1,” he concluded.
It is an opinion that can be considered rather singular if we take into account what has happened, and continues to happen, within Red Bull’s own junior programme over the last seven or eight years. The Austrian team has often promoted drivers very quickly, sometimes replacing them just as swiftly, which has led to criticism of the extreme pressure within the Red Bull system.
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