Sawt Falasteen - Mercedes pick teenage rookie Antonelli to replace Lewis Hamilton

Rookie Antonelli, who celebrated his 18th birthday last weekend, will partner George Russell, another product of the team's junior programme.

"Reaching F1 is a dream I've had since I was a small boy; I want to thank the team for the support they've given me in my career so far and the faith they've shown in me," said Antonelli in a statement.

"I am still learning a lot, but I feel ready for the opportunity. I will be focused on getting better and delivering the best possible results for the team."

Antonelli was picked by Mercedes even though his first ever F1 drive ended quickly and in spectacular fashion at Friday's first practice session for the Italian Grand Prix, smashing Russell's car into the trackside barriers at Monza with just four completed laps under his belt.

Given a chance by Mercedes to drive an F1 car, he lost control at the Parabolica turn 10 minutes into the session and seriously damaged the front end after ploughing through the gravel.

Mercedes called the incident "unfortunate but all part of the learning curve".

"He apologised first of all, and that is what you need to do when you bring a car back that looks a little bit like a Lego box falling on the floor," said team chief Toto Wolff on Friday.

Wolff was unperturbed by the crash, saying that "no one's interested in FP1 anyway" and adding that Antonelli would get probably another chance in a Mercedes F1 car at the Mexican GP at the end of October.

Antonelli has had a stellar youth career until a brief lull at the start of this season.

He won the 2022, Italian and German Formula 4 championships, the 2023 Middle East and European regional Formula championships.

This season, he skipped Formula 3 and went straight into the Formula 2 championship. After a slow start he scored his first victory in the sprint race at Silverstone at the beginning of July, before winning the main race in Budapest two weeks later.

He is seventh in the championship with four rounds to go.

K.AbuDahab--SF-PST