Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord has given several reasons behind Kimi Antonelli’s rise into a Formula 1 title contender this season. “I've been asked a few times if I'd been surprised,” Lord commented. Bradley Lord, Deputy Team Principal, Mercedes AMG F1 Team Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images“We signed Kimi and we took the decision to bring Kimi into the team because we believed in his potential. You can just see his self-belief growing and that's really, really impressive.” “We've been very careful and very judicious with how we've tried to support Kimi's introduction to Formula 1,” Lord added.