Lewis Hamilton has chosen his heir in Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton has chosen his heir in Mercedes

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who will be at the wheel of Ferrari next year, has let it be known who he thinks should take his place at Mercedes. After praising Carlos Sainz, the Briton mentioned the name of Kimi Antonelli, the not-yet-18-year-old native of Bologna who has long been in the orbit of the Silver Arrows’ stable. Here are Hamilton’s words reported by the Italian version of motorsport.com.

"I think Carlos is a great driver, so I think wherever he goes he will be able to do positive things for whatever team he is racing for. Honestly, I have no idea what Toto’s plans are, but I think if it was me that had to choose. If it was my job to make that choice I would probably take Kimi Antonelli”.

“Do we have to be patient for updates? I wouldn’t say that è depressing. È just a game of patience. You just have to do with what you have, making the most of the tools you have today, tomorrow and this weekend. But è really encouraging that we are seeing progress in the factory and in the wind tunnel".

"We have new components coming in and that è always an interesting part of the processes: trying a number of different things and then finding out what works and what doesn’t. And the fact that we have sort of a direction to go and we have tested it in the simulator. So you can't wait to get the new pieces".

"People are really very stimulated. This è a great time for people in terms of time spent in the factory and working to make sure that we get these new parts first. We need all the help we can get and we know we can count on them".