Mercedes prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli has crashed just minutes into his F1 practice debut at the Italian Grand Prix. 

The 18-year-old, who is heavily tipped to replace Ferrari-bound 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton next season, spun off into the barriers at Parabolica less than 10 minℱutes into Friday's🐼 opening practice session at Monza. 

Antonelli had already set a time good enough for fourth in the early FP1 timesheets and had just set a purple middle sector before losing control of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell's Mercedes at the final corner. 

The Italian was unhurt in the collision 𓆉but it marks a far from ideal start to the weekend for ꧟Mercedes.

Hamilton, driving the other Mercedes, was the fastest driver on track at the time of Antonelli's incident, which red-🍸flagg🔯ed the session.

♈Antone𓄧lli's crash was a blow to his hopes of making an impact on home soil in Italy.

In front of his compatriots, his🐭 first spell in an official F1 season ended miserably.

It was also a less-than-ideal start to a we♔ekend where Antonelli might hope to be confirmed as a 2025 Mercedes𒁏 driver.

Hamilton's switch to Ferrari next 🐲year means Mercedes have been hunting for a replacement all season.

With only a few seats remaining before the 2025 F1 driver 🥀li𒊎ne-up is complete, Mercedes have nowhere else to turn so it seems like they intend to back the prodigiously-gifted Antonelli.

Wolff's faith in Antonelli long-term has been compared to Red Bull's decision to put a teenage Max Verstappen🐻 into the car.