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Juan Pablo Montoya’s friendly advice for F1 new boy Andrea Kimi Antonelli: ‘Slow down, tiger!’

Former F1 race-winner and two-time Indy 500 victor hopes F1's new teenage sensation can cut out the crashes and show his potential in 2025.

By Simon Head

Sep 14, 2024; Watkins Glen, New York, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Juan Pablo Montoya stands on pit road during practice and qualifying for the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images
Sep 14, 2024; Watkins Glen, New York, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Juan Pablo Montoya stands on pit road during practice and qualifying for the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images
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Former F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya has warned that Mercedes wonderkid Andrea Kimi Antonelli could find life tough in his first year as a full-time Formula 1 driver.

Antonelli has been handed a huge vote of confidence by Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who handed him the second seat alongside George Russell at the team for the coming season. 

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It's a huge responsibility for the young Italian, who this week passed his driving test to be allowed to drive on the roads in his native Italy as he became a rare case of a driver earning their driver's license after earning the the FIA superlicense needed to race in F1.

Now operating at the pinnacle of motorsport, in one of the top teams on the grid, the pressure will be sky-high on the 18-year-old.

He's already had a taste of that pressure during his FP1 appearance for Mercedes at Monza last season, where he crashed out after just 10 minutes of the session.

Seven-time F1 Grand Prix winner and two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 Montoya knows a thing about pressure, and offered some words of advice for Mercedes' young gun ahead of his debut season as a full-time F1 driver.

"It's going to be hard for Kimi Antonelli to live up to the hype," Montoya told CasinoApps. 

"It's going to be really hard. He's got enough speed to be really, really good. But with speed, accidents can happen. There's always talk that he had lots of crashes in the old cars.

"I think he's fully committed to it and if Kimi can control his emotions, understanding it might take time to perform, I think he is going to be okay."

Montoya said that it's only natural for a young racer to want to just put the pedal to the metal and look to outpace the opposition, but sometimes less is more, as he explained.

"If he wants to come out and race and beat everyone, it can backfire really quickly," he said. 

"If someone can pull his reins and say to him, 'Slow down, tiger!’

"He has time where he doesn't need to put himself into bad situations. I think there's a good chance he might end up in an awkward situation because he's shown how quick he can be, but he has shown he can make mistakes.

"You go fast, you crash, you don't crash, you go slow."

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