Drive to Survive Captures Emotional Moment Rookie is Named Lewis Hamilton’s Successor

Netflix’s Drive to Survive Season 7 is set for a release on the 7th of March, showcasing all key events of the 2024 Formula One season across ten episodes. One of the biggest moments from the season was the signing of rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli to the Mercedes F1 Team, taking Lewis Hamilton’s place, who joined Ferrari this year.

A short clip on X captures the emotional moment when Antonelli was announced as the new Mercedes driver before he shared the happy news with his parents.

Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, left Mercedes to fulfill his dream of racing for a legendary team like Ferrari and in the quest for his eighth championship title. His 12-year association with Mercedes saw eight Constructors’ Championships and six drivers’ titles.

The bombshell Ferrari announcement was made by Hamilton in February last year, which led Mercedes to immediately begin the hunt for the driver who would take his seat alongside George Russell.

Eventually, Mercedes signed Antonelli, who was on the radar of team principal Toto Wolff. Wolff was impressed by the talent he showcased in the Formula Two series. The 18-year-old Italian driver’s Mercedes F1 signing was announced during the 2024 Italian Grand Prix weekend.

A video from the Drive to Survive Season 7 on X shows Antonelli’s reaction after hearing that he would be the 2025 Mercedes Formula 1 driver, a revelation made to him by Wolff during a video call. Antonelli then broke the big news to his parents and hugged them with joy, saying, “I’m Mercedes.”

Mercedes had several driver options on the table for the 2025 season, including Carlos Sainz. Wolff had also pursued Red Bull’s Max Verstappen but Mercedes’ lackluster performance in the current ground effect era didn’t excite the four-time world champion.

Wolff revealed during the 2024 season that he had made up his mind to sign Antonelli five minutes after Hamilton had broken the Ferrari news to him. Speaking to F1.com, he said:

“I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me that he’s going to Ferrari.

“Obviously we were discussing other options and looking at the Max idea – we didn’t discount it completely with looking at what happened at Red Bull.

“But instinctively that is the line-up with these two [Russell and Antonelli] that I always wanted, bearing in mind the fast-tracking that we did with Kimi and everything related there too, but that was immediately what I wanted to do.”