I don't get it. They are citing his performance in F2. I haven't seen anything special from him in F2 yet, yes he's won a couple of races but with someone like Drugovich without a seat, Schumacher who is essentially Toto's best friend and Kimi binning it on his first effort... I can't help but think this kid is very overrated.

I guess the Toto Verstappen wild goose chase is finally over.

I mean he's... good?

Aside from maybe Hadjar, Bortoleto who's a bit Maldonado-esque, Gabriele Mini, and obvs Lawson - I'm not seeing any "chosen one" talents coming through. There's nothing wrong with Antonelli as a choice at all, just all seems a bit meh.

If they were going to roll the dice, I'd have put Doriane Pin in that seat. She is rapid AF.

The key moments played out from Lesmo 2 on his final lap, where Antonelli swooped through at a pretty impressive speed.

His minimum speed through there was 184km/h – which is 7km/h faster than Max Verstappen managed on the fastest lap of the session.

Things are even more impressive through the Ascari Chicane, as Antonelli went through there at 190km/h – with Verstappen only managing 176km/h on his fastest lap.

Other front runners were a similar margin behind Antonelli on their fastest laps at the end of the session – Lewis Hamilton’s minimum speed was 177km/h, Charles Leclerc was 178km/h and Lando Norris 179km/h.

Nothing breaking about this. Toto confirmed this days ago.

Probably thinking they can turn him into a long term driver. If he is as highly touted as most experts think they can lock him down a la RB with Verstappen. If he is a bust they are a massive team who can attract top talent regardless.

He's bloody quick. Just needs to take care of the car and learn other racecraft.