De Vries Picks 'Very Complete' Driver To Replace Hamilton

Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 15:00

Nyck de Vries, who competed in the 2023 F1 championship, highlighted the driver he believes would be a great replacement for Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes.

Though there are enough issues on track for Mercedes at the moment, Toto Wolff also has to focus heavily on the driver market as he still doesn't have a driver who will race alongside George Russell in 2025.

He recently revealed that Max Verstappen is currently number one on his list and that his decision-making will mostly depend on whether the Dutchman stays with Red Bull or not.

However, the Austrian also highlighted that he had other options. He named Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, and the 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who debuted in F2 this year.

Read also

Alonso And Verstappen 'Absolutely Cannot' Be Teammates

On the one hand, it might be risky to bring the young Italian straight to Mercedes due to lack of experience. On the other hand, it seems like something the team principal is seriously considering, as he believes he could be the next super talent like Verstappen.

Former F1 driver Nyck de Vries, who drover for AlphaTauri last year (now RB), told RacingNews365 he believed the 17-year-old is "very capable" and that he hoped Antonelli would get the opportunity.

"They (Mercedes) have a great young driver in Kimi Antonelli. Of course, Lewis is a loss because he is a phenomenal driver with an amazing track record, arguably the best driver of the past decade."

"But where a door closes, a new one always opens, and change is not always for the worse. It just happens, and I hope to see that Kimi will get the opportunity because I believe he's very capable. I think he's a great, great driver, very complete."

Antonelli first needs to show what he's got in F2. After the season's first three races, he's standing ninth in the Championship with 24 points, 38 points behind the current Championship leader, Zane Maloney.