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Kimi Antonelli is among the most recent additions to the infamous F1 drivers’ WhatsApp chat, but he’s certainly not the most active. The Mercedes rookie, who will start on pole at Saturday’s Miami Sprint race, said he’s taking a back seat before he starts contributing to the group chat with all 20 drivers.
“I’m the least active, actually,” he told Motorsport.com. “Because I’m new, I’m just listening and looking at the moment, but not interacting that much yet.” The 18-year-old also divulged who’s the chattiest. “It’s George and Carlos for sure. They’re kind of the bosses because they’re in charge [of the GPDA] and they’re the admins as well. So those two are definitely the most active,” he said.
Antonelli’s new documentary, which was made by WhatsApp in partnership with Netflix, premieres on Monday. Although the streaming service is already the home of Drive to Survive and other motorsport content, he’s the only driver on the grid with his own, standalone documentary.
“I feel very privileged,” he said. “It’s also really cool to get more known worldwide. I hope many people will like it. I’m very happy with how it all came together so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing it on Netflix soon.”
The 45-minute documentary – titled The Seat – will reveal the private conversations that led to Toto Wolff’s decision to promote Antonelli after Lewis Hamilton’s exit from the team, making him the third-youngest rookie in the sport’s history. “Working with the WhatsApp crew was a really good experience. I got to see a bit more of that world as well, because I’ve seen many movies, but I didn’t know all the work that there was behind [the scenes],” he said of the filmmaking process.
“The amount of people that were there putting in work was pretty amazing. It was a really cool experience.” The crew started filming during Antonelli’s first test with the team, but didn’t tell him about it until later in the year. “I kind of had an idea, but I wasn’t fully sure,” he recalled. The film will also incorporate private texts and phone conversations – but only those relating to work. “If I was showing my friends group chat … that would have been a bit embarrassing,” he laughed.
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In this article
Emily Selleck
Formula 1
Culture
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
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