Antonelli h💖as been part of the Mercedes young driver pro💯gramme since 2019, and is widely regarded as the most impressive talent outside of F1.

The 17-year-old has been fast tracked to race in F2 - F1’s main feeder series in 2024 - bypassing F♕3 completely.

Italy haven’t had an F1 driver since Antonio Giovinazzi, while the last Italian🎃 to win a race was Giancarlo Fisichella in 2006.

In complete contrast, Francesco Bagnaia is the reigning MotoGP champion and is currently leading this year’s champion𓆉ship. 

Bagnaia rose through the ranks with R♉ossi’s support thro🐻ugh the VR46 Academy.

“It❀aly is very strong at motorcycles because we have always very strong ri﷽ders, but less in cars, because there is a lot of time that we don’t have an Italian driver winning a F1 race, for example.

“I 🌺think we are strong in motorcycle for the academy because we know a lot of people and it is our world. With the cars, I think it can be more difficult, so I think that we will continue just with motorcycles. But supporting and helping Kimi, why not, because we hope he can arrive in F1.”