He returned to the track in Imola, but for the first time at the wheel of a Formula 1. A trip a stone’s throw from home yesterday for the 17-year-old from Bologna Andrea Kimi Antonelli, for whom Mercedes had booked a two-day private test for months now (today the encore) on the banks of the Santerno, after those of a couple of weeks ago at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
This is the second act of Antonelli’s approach (from this year in Formula 2 with the Perna team) with a view to his possible promotion (but given his young age an exemption is needed) among the greats of that Circus which is now orphaned by Italians. Perhaps already from the Imola Grand Prix on 17-19 May at the wheel of Williams in place of Logan Sargeant.
In the end, encouraging signals from the stopwatch and words of appreciation from the usual groups of enthusiasts who once again gathered at the key points of the circuit (closed to the public as always happens in these cases) to peek from the starting straight, from the mineral waters, from the Gresini curve.
Andrea Kimi’s trip to Romagna, accompanied by the athletic trainer, the Spaniard Sergi Avila, began already on Sunday evening. The boy slept in a hotel in a racetrack area. Yesterday morning, after having breakfast at the hotel, he showed up at the Rivazza entrance around 9am. And a few minutes later he was already behind the wheel of the 2022 W13 single-seater (in compliance with the legislation which allows only cars of at least two years) with the number 12.
Only the data reported before the lunch break leaks. We are talking about 36 laps (176.7 km) marked by great regularity. Best time 1:21.20. With that same car, Lewis Hamilton was able to stop the clock at 1:19.992 in free practice 2 of the 2022 Imola GP.
During his lunch break, Antonelli ate in the garage with an engineer. The driver from Bologna is crazy about pasta, while he relied on fruit and supplements for the rest of the day. Also present at the Autodromo was his father Marco, who was only able to see about ten laps of Andrea Kimi’s track as he was involved in some meetings for the Antonelli Motorsport Team. Mother Veronica was also there, who also attended the first rehearsals of the afternoon, before returning to Bologna to accompany the little girl at home to rhythmic gymnastics training.
The pace of the aspiring motor racing champion remained good even in the afternoon. Several dozen laps were also completed in the second part of a particularly intense track day, which ended only after 6pm. In the end, while awaiting today’s confirmation, the feeling is that Antonelli is also at ease behind the wheel of an F1 . Debut among the greats in the home GP with Williams, a historic team: a dream ready to become reality?
