Sir Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion from the United Kingdom, has been captured from Paris to the Super Bowl to a roadside in Arizona cozying up to his rumored girlfriend Kim Kardashian in recent weeks. But his budding romance only comes after his professional F1 seat at the Mercedes AMG Petronas Team found a replacement for him in a shocking new driver that no one believed was a viable option (spoiler alert: the kid’s got talent!)
Here’s what to know about the youngest driver on the grid who took on the prestigious helm that belonged to Lewis Hamilton for an unprecedented 12 seasons.
Lewis Hamilton Shocked The World By Leaving Mercedes To Join Ferrari
GettyLewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari and Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team look on in the Drivers Press Conference during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 24, 2025 in Spa, Belgium.
After a dozen seasons driving for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team and seven Formula 1 World Championship titles to his name, Lewis Hamilton shocked the world in February 2024 when he announced ahead of the F1 season that he’d signed with his new team. Of course, things were made awkward because he had to race for Mercedes for the entire 2024 FIA F1 Grand Prix season before officially making the switch over to the Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team for the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Finding a replacement for the most accomplished driver on the grid seemed like an impossible feat, as many commentators noted. Furthermore, there were questions about the team at Mercedes which had backed Hamilton for over a decade staying or leaving as well, notably the race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington who had worked one-on-one with the British driver through nearly every race of his tenure at Mercedes. Ultimately, though, a replacement to fill Lewis Hamilton’s spot on the team was found… in 18-year-old high school student Andrea Kimi Antonelli from Italy.
The ‘School Kid’ Gives The Engineers His Math Homework To Complete
GettyAndrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team arrives in the Paddock during day one of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on February 18, 2026 in Bahrain, Bahrain.
Season 8 of Netflix’s hit docuseries “Drive to Survive” – which follows the Formula 1 teams through their seasons – shows the quest for finding a driver to replace Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes seat. When Kimi Antonelli is announced as the new second driver at the team, alongside Mercedes teammate George Russell, longtime commentators and fans were shocked at the selection for the fact of how young Antonelli was compared to other drivers during their rookie seasons.
In the first episode of “Drive to Survive” season 8, F1 commentator Will Buxton expresses his shock at the announcement of Antonelli as the replacement for Hamilton, saying, “Replacing Lewis Hamilton with a school kid… ya know?”
Kimi Antonelli had to continue taking his high school courses during his first Formula 1 season before he ultimately graduated in the summer of 2025. However, he did admit in one interview that he gives his math homework to the engineers at the Mercedes team because ‘they are good with numbers’. Perhaps Antonelli was just cracking a joke, but it was a moment that made the audience realize just how young Hamilton’s replacement truly is. Nonetheless, balancing a Formula 1 career with high school is certainly an impressive extracurricular – to say the least!
Kim Kardashian’s Love Interest Is Replaced ‘With a School Kid’ On F1 Grid