What Lewis Hamilton told Kimi Antonelli in Mercedes motorhome visit

It was another challenging weekend for Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in Belgium, but a few words of wisdom from Lewis Hamilton helped.

The seven-time World Champion told the rookie to keep his head up as he battled through a difficult event.

Kimi Antonelli receives words of wisdom from Lewis Hamilton

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix was perhaps the lowest point of Antonelli’s burgeoning career, particularly as his future in the sport hangs in question.

The Italian teenager joined Mercedes at the start of the season, taking over the seat at the team vacated by seven-time World Champion Hamilton, who announced his move to Ferrari before the start of the F1 2024 season.

Antonelli’s signing was brought into question in large part due to his age, but Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was confident he’d made the right choice; Antonelli, he argued, was a genuine and exciting talent.

In his debut season with Mercedes, Antonelli has been on a rollercoaster of performance. He started the season strong with five points-scoring runs in the first six races; since then, a third-place finish in Canada was the only highlight in a series of retirements or points-free finishes.

Analysis from the Belgian Grand Prix:

👉 Belgian GP conclusions: Verstappen’s goodbye kiss, Hamilton’s uncomfortable truth, Piastri’s zone

👉 Belgian GP driver ratings: Hamilton makes amends as Norris gifts Piastri

It was a similar story in Belgium last weekend, albeit with the added pressure of a sprint race to make things more difficult.

In the first segment of Sprint qualifying, Antonelli ran off the road.

Though he was able to return to the track, he brought plenty of gravel with him and had to content himself with a 20th-place start for Saturday’s Sprint.

Worse, team-mate George Russell had driven through the detritus left behind by Antonelli and wondered if it had compromised his own performance.

For the grand prix itself, Antonelli again failed to make it out of the first segment of qualifying and ultimately started the race from pit lane. He came home in 16th.

In the midst of the weekend, Hamilton was spotted paying a visit to his old Mercedes motor home, and word quickly spread that he had also used the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Antonelli, who confirmed as much post-race.

“He came to say hi to the team, and definitely we had a couple of words,” Antonelli told media including PlanetF1.com.

Prompted to share the advice he received, Antonelli replied, “He was telling me to keep my head up, and that it’s normal to have bad weekends, and to just keep believing.

“It was really nice for me.”

It isn’t the first time a Hamilton has taken time to reassure a rookie in F1 2025.

During the formation lap of the season-opening event in Australia, Racing Bulls debutant Isack Hadjar lost control of his car and crashed, bringing an end to his debut before it even began.

Hadjar was clearly emotional as he climbed from the wreckage and insisted upon keeping his helmet on as he headed back to the garage.

But as he walked through the paddock, Anthony Hamilton, the Ferrari driver’s father, pulled him in for a hug and for a few motivating words.

“He said it reminded him of Lewis parking the car in the pit entry in Shanghai,” Hadjar revealed at the time.

“It was a nice moment, sharing time with someone like Anthony, the dad of my idol. It was quite a special moment.

“Lewis sent me a message later that day, so they’re really classy guys.”

Hadjar was able to bounce back from the difficult start quite rapidly; Antonelli will be hoping do the same as the second half of the F1 2025 season gets underway.

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