Cars, Celebrities

F1 driver Kimi Antonelli was gifted a Mercedes AMG GT 63 S supercar but driving it is illegal

  • Kimi Antonelli is one of the youngest drivers in the history of F1
  • Antonelli got his driver’s license just months ahead of his F1 debut
  • He was gifted a supercar by his team, but he can’t drive it

Published on Apr 10, 2025 at 12:21 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis

Last updated on Apr 10, 2025 at 8:53 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Tom Wood

F1 rookie Kimi Antonelli was gifted a Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S, but he can’t drive it.

Antonelli is Italian, and Italy has pretty strict and strange laws when it comes to the cars you can or can’t drive as an 18-year-old driver.

This means that Antonelli won’t be able to use his GT 63 S on the road, despite driving a much more powerful and extreme car on the job.

How ironic.

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The reason why Kimi Antonelli won’t be able to drive his car

Kimi Antonelli, whose full name is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, is the youngest racing driver on the F1 grid, and one of the youngest in the history of the sport.

Like most drivers, he started out with karts and Formula 4, and then he joined Mercedes Junior Team before being promoted to the first team to replace Lewis Hamilton.

Those are some big shoes to fill, but Antonelli didn’t flinch and scored more points than Hamilton in the first three races of the season.

Mercedes Andrea Kimi Antonelli driving test pass ahead of F1
mercedesamgf1

Interestingly, Antonelli actually got his driver’s license just a couple of months ahead of his F1 debut.

Unfortunately for him, he won’t be able to drive his Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S on the road, though.

This is due to a slightly confusing Italian law.

New drivers, according to this law, are not allowed to drive anything with a power-to-weight ratio over 75kW per ton, and the Mercedes GT 63 S has 430kW per ton.

A slightly confusing law – and here’s why

Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S
Wikimedia Commons

The new law, which is actually just an updated version of an older law, came into effect on 14 December 2024 and prohibits new drivers from driving vehicles with more than 75kW per ton during the first three years of holding their license.

Like most equivalent laws, it was written paying a lot of attention to data that was found on paper, which means it doesn’t always make sense in the real world.

For example, Antonelli cannot drive most MINI models, but he can drive a diesel Audi Q7 and some versions of Range Rover Velar.

Go figure.

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Experienced content creator with a strong focus on cars and watches. Alessandro penned the first-ever post on the Supercar Blondie website and covers cars, watches, yachts, real estate and crypto. Former DriveTribe writer, fixed gear bike owner, obsessed with ducks for some reason.