Mercedes reportedly have two drivers on their mind to replace 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton next year.

The seven-time F1 champion and Mercedes’ star man will spen☂d one final y👍ear with his current team before switching to Ferrari in 2025.

He will le✨ave a gigantic hole at Mercedes, alongside George♕ Russell, and how to fill it will become one of Toto Wolff’s biggest tasks this year.

Teenage talent Andrea Kimi Antonelli is their Plan A, and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Fernando Alonso is their Plan B, according to .

Plan A

Antonelli is “f🐻i⛄rmly” believed to be Wolff’s No 1 choice.

“There is a feeling from inꦯside the team that this is ‘the new Verstappen’,” the report states.

Wolff, having missed out on𓂃 signing Max Verstappen when he was a teen✃ager, is driven by not letting history repeat itself.

Antonelli is stil⭕l just 17 and will compete in Formula 2 for the ওfirst time this year.

If he excels, there is “a very strong possibility” he will earn Hamilton🐼’s Mer༺cedes seat in 2025.

Sky Sports’ K⛎arun Chandhok added about Antonelli: “From everything I hear of Antonelli, he’s pretty damn special.

“Sp🐎oke with the F3 engineers who ran him recently on a private test day. Said he was the best driver in an F3 car since Verstappen!

“McLaren gamble with rookie Lewꦚis in 2🌸007 worked out.”

Wolff has previously been asked about rep⛎laci🌃ng Hamilton with Antonelli, and he said: “Kimi has been with Mercedes since he was 11.

“He♏'s been in the junior programme and his career was very successful. I think most important at that stage is he focuses on F2.

“If we start🧸 to spin his mind or unleash rumours that’s not going to help his F2 campaign.

“He’s j𝓡ust stepped out of karts a few years ago. He’s not even 18.

“I would rather not start any speculation about Kimi going 🌞into F1 at this s👍tage.”

Plan B

Aston Martin’s Alonso, now 42 and the oldest driver on the F1 grid, is supposedly Mercedes’ No 2 c꧂hoice.

His c♑ontract with Aston Martin expires at thꦐe end of this year, and his manager Flavio Briatore has been spotted having coffee with Wolff this week.

Alonso was asked about moving to Mercedes next yea꧒r.

“I think it’s going to be🧸 a question [I get] for the first few🔥 months of the year,” he replied.

He insisted that renewing his contract would Aston Martin was his “💜priority”.

But he added: “If we cannot re♑ach an agreement and I want to commit to race i꧋n Formula 1, I know that I have a privileged position. I’m probably attractive to other teams.”