Mercedes F1 Driver Kimi Antonelli Was Given A Supercar That's Illegal For Him To Drive In His Native Italy

There are plenty of perks when it comes to being a Formula 1 driver, and one of those — especially if you race for a manufacturer's works team — is that you typically end up getting a very nice car.

That's the case for Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, only there's one really big problem: he's not legally allowed to drive it around his native Italy.

Antonelli is a highly touted driver who, at just 18-years-old, was tapped to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, and so far, through three Grand Prix and a Sprint, he has done pretty well.

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So, as I mentioned, one of the perks to being a driver for Mercedes is that they typically give you a very nice car, and that was the case for Antonelli. The manufacturer gifted him an AMG GT 63 S.

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli was given a car that's technically illegal for him to drive in his native Italy. (Getty Images)

Now, despite being one of the best drivers on the planet, Antonelli only passed his driver's test back in January, about two months before he was on track in Melbourne for the start of the Formula 1 season.

And while he passed — can you imagine him failing despite having an FIA super license? — there are still some restrictions on what he can and can't do, and that includes what kinds of cars he's allowed to drive.

According to Motorsport, Italy has a law that went into effect back in December that dictates how powerful of a car new drivers are allowed to drive for their first three years on the road. That limit is reported to be 75 kW per ton.

That brand-spankin' new Mercedes of Antonelli's? A whopping 430 kW per ton.

Perhaps the team will let Antonelli keep his car at their factory in the United Kingdom, where he might get a little more use out of it than he would back home in Italy.