28/04/2025 15:40
Rising F1 star Kimi Antonelli is to feature in a standalone
documentary on Netflix charting his promotion to a race seat with
Mercedes. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff faced a major dilemma
last year when Lewis Hamilton announced he would be leaving the
team that had helped him win six of his seven F1 titles to join
bitter rivals Ferrari - all before a wheel had turned in anger on
the campaign. Mercedes was heavily linked with a move for Red
Bull's Max Verstappen, before Wolff decided to place his faith in
junior driver Antonelli. A 45-minute documentary, entitled 'The
Seat', covers the key moments that resulted in the 18-year-old
Italian being chosen to step into the hot seat being vacated by
Hamilton. As an original film project from WhatsApp, 'The Seat'
provides an inside look into the private calls and chats that took
place over the private messaging service ahead of Antonelli's
promotion. "Selecting Kimi as our race driver for 2025 was, as 'The
Seat' documents, a big decision," said Wolff. "WhatsApp played an
instrumental role in this. It was the engine that kept everything
moving smoothly and privately, allowing our team to focus on Kimi's
development, discuss progress, and ultimately communicate our
choice. "We're excited to give F1 fans around the world a unique
insight into the process, showing how we arrived at this pivotal
moment in the team's history." Underlining that it has been "a
dream come true to be an F1 driver", Antonelli said: "Throughout
the process, Toto, the team, and I were in constant communication
on WhatsApp, and the 'The Seat' shows this process from start to
finish." The documentary airs on May 5. You can catch a glimpse of
the programme via the trailer below. K96e6kYu-oY
