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Antonelli is a bright young Italian driver, currently cutting his teeth in his first season of Formula 2.
He is a Mercedes junior and is considered a shoo-in at the squad once the time is right.
The current complication is that his services may be called for before he’s ready, putting both him and Mercedes in an awkward position.
Antonelli is currently ineligible to compete in Formula 1 as, at the age of 17, he does not qualify for a Super Licence.
Rules introduced following Max Verstappen’s early arrival into F1 saw the FIA mandate drivers must be 18 years old before they’re eligible for the all-important licence.
Antonelli meets the points criteria but will only satisfy the age requirement in late August. Nonetheless, a dispensation request has been submitted.
The only reason that would happen is if there is an appetite to give the youngster an early call-up.
Mercedes has George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in its cars, making a berth at the factory team extremely unlikely.
However, the Anglo-German operation has a close relationship with Williams, and has previously used that to blood George Russell.
Williams has Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant at the moment, the latter having failed to fire in his second season of F1.
It is understood Antonelli’s dispensation request came from the Grove squad.
In Miami, team boss James Vowles attempted to dodge the question, and when Speedcafe asked the team directly, no response was given.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes team boss, also shied away from directly answering the question when he was asked about Antonelli’s future.
“There’s so many stories,” he began.
“It doesn’t do him any favours because he needs to concentrate on his F2 campaign.
“He’s doing lots of testing for us in order to bring him up to speed, and I think this decision of the second drive is weeks, if not months away.
“We didn’t make any… that wasn’t a Mercedes approach to the FIA about getting an earlier release.”
Placing Antonelli at Williams this season makes sense. It is low risk for all concerned with potential strong upsides.
For Williams, it has little to lose, given Sargeant is already failing to deliver alongside Albon. Should he prove more competitive it will bolster the squad’s chances of scoring points but if he’s only on par with Sargeant, the team has lost nothing.
Such a move would also afford Mercedes an opportunity to assess Antonelli in F1 ahead of making a decision on how to replace Ferrari-bound Hamilton.
If the youngster is up to scratch, it’s an easy decision, but it puts the team in a risk free position to gain meaningful data in F1 rather than F2 hypotheticals.
And finally, for Antonelli, it’s a zero-risk move; if he fails to fire, it can be easily justified as an uncompetitive package, his own youth, and inexperience. If he succeeds, he lands a competitive F1 seat at the very start of his career.
But as this is F1, there are likely financial incentives, too.
Williams has a technical relationship with Mercedes for not only the supply of power units but a number of components as allowed under the regulations.
It’s not imconceivable that a deal is struck on that front to offset the fact Mercedes would essentially use the second Williams seat as a training ground.
Should he prove the superstar many believe he is (or will be), he could safely be slotted in alongside Russell at Mercedes next season.
However, if he needs more time to develop he could remain at Williams next season while Mercedes instead heads into the driver market for a stop-gap.
