Kimi Antonelli balancing his first year in F1 with his last year of school

Kimi Antonelli is balancing his first year in F1 with his last year of schoolLife as a Formula 1 driver is tough enough. Not only are you crisscrossing the globe to compete at the highest levels of motorsport, putting your body and mind through some of the toughest tests imaginable, but you are doing it against 19 of the best drivers on the planet.

Imagine balancing that with your final year of school.

But that is life for Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old Mercedes phenom remains focused on succeeding on the track, while finishing his final year of school. As Antonelli explained on the most recent installment of The Fast and the Curious podcast, finding time to complete his last year has proven challenging.

“I have the last year of school [to do],” explained the Mercedes rookie. “I have final exams, so I’m trying at the moment to fit [in] a date where I can do it, which is pretty difficult at the moment.”

Antonelli conceded that he is getting some help in the scholarly department.

“I’m getting a lot of help from school, I’m not going to lie – they’re sending me stuff over, but it’s a big commitment. To be honest, I always say I don’t really want to do this, but when I think back it’s important as well.

“I’ve been doing so many years of school and it would be a shame to just quit on the last year of school, and also my Mum really cares about it, so I will do it for her as well,” added Antonelli.

Since his schedule has taken him from Australia, to China, then Japan, and now to Bahrain for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Antonelli’s lessons have all been virtual.

“I do it online at the moment,” added Antonelli.

“I go to a public school, so I can’t really connect during the day because they don’t really do that, but after each lesson they send the material of what they’ve been teaching in class, and also my classmates help me as well.”

As for what subject he enjoys the least, you might or might not be surprised to learn that math tops the list.

“It’s a terrible feeling, I’m not going to lie,” said Antonelli. “Maths, you start off, you see numbers and then you get to see just letters, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, why am I doing this?’ It’s something I have to do, but it is a really difficult subject.”

One number that is working for Antonelli? 30. That represents the number of points Antonelli has already earned during his rookie F1 campaign. Antonelli has finished in the points in every contested race this season, including the first F1 Sprint of the year at the Chinese Grand Prix.

That, coupled with teammate George Russell’s strong start, has Mercedes sitting second in the Constructors’ Championship standings in the early going.

It might not help him pass his final exams, but it counts for something.