Inside Kimi Antonelli’s Bespoke Home F1 Simulator That’s Every Bit as Serious as His Career

Kimi Antonelli is an Italian racing driver competing in Formula 1 for Mercedes, and he’s already racked up five grand prix wins.
Between race weekends, the 19-year-old doesn’t just unwind – he trains. And now we know exactly what that training setup looks like.
Advertisement

Antonelli is the tenth Formula 1 driver to commission a Cool Performance simulator, with his bespoke Formula Pro mirroring his 2026 Mercedes-AMG car and built for training, preparation, and a bit of fun between races.
Cool Performance founder Oliver Norris recently walked through the build on video, and the level of detail involved makes it clear this isn’t a consumer sim dressed up in carbon fiber. Three months of collaboration went into making it.
The most striking thing about the rig aesthetically is how completely it reflects Antonelli’s identity on track. Designed in collaboration with Kimi, the simulator features a bespoke two-tone livery inspired by his 2026 Formula 1 car, with custom paintwork and coordinated colour accents throughout the cockpit.
Advertisement

Turquoise accents run through the seat stitching, side panels, and spacers, and the rear panel carries his initials, race number, and signature – the “KA12” branding that follows him from helmet to helmet in real competition.
Kimi chose the number 12 for his F1 career, the same number he ran when he won the FRECA title in 2023.
The simulator features a bespoke carbon rear panel with precision-cut lettering, a full carbon fibre footplate, and machined carbon chassis blocks with accent spacers finished in his signature Mercedes-AMG inspired colour scheme – all constructed from over 40 individually manufactured components, hand-built at Cool Performance’s UK workshop.
Where it gets genuinely serious is under the driver’s feet.
Advertisement

The Formula Pro features Cool Performance’s custom hydraulic pedal system, specifically configured to match the pedal weight, travel, and braking characteristics of Antonelli’s Formula 1 simulator setup, with every element of the pedal box fully adjustable and an AP Racing master cylinder delivering authentic hydraulic resistance and progressive brake modulation comparable to a real race car.
The goal, per Norris, is that every parameter – heel rest distance and angle, pedal travel, application pressure – can be dialled in until the sim brake feels identical to the real one. For a driver at this level, that kind of tactile continuity between the home rig and the cockpit isn’t a luxury. It’s the whole point.
Kimi wanted the simulator to replicate his W17 Formula One car as authentically as possible, which is why it features the official Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team Sim Racing Steering Wheel.
The wheel carries functional dials, switches, and a dual-clutch carbon paddle system — the same layout Antonelli reaches for at race pace on Sundays.
Advertisement

The simulator features Cool Performance’s integrated tactile feedback system, delivering high-frequency vibration throughout the chassis and seating structure to reproduce key vehicle sensations in real time, providing immediate driver feedback from gear shifts, kerb strikes, bottoming out, and surface changes with virtually zero latency.
Norris notes that many professional drivers opt for this over a full-motion rig, finding it a more precise and authentic way to read what the track surface is actually doing beneath them.
The triple wraparound curved displays are positioned to deliver the correct driver eye line and optimal peripheral vision on both sides, with minimal bezel gaps between screens creating a seamless, highly immersive wraparound driving experience.
Advertisement

When Antonelli himself sat down in the rig for the first time on camera, Norris asked what he planned to use it for. His answer was exactly what you’d expect from a teenager who also happens to be one of the most gifted drivers on the current F1 grid: “to play with friends, and do on-line racing, and as well to prepare the race weekends.” Priorities in order.
Formula 1 drivers including Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Sebastian Vettel, and Mick Schumacher all use the Cool Performance Formula Pro – so Antonelli is in well-established company.
The simulator is used every day by top professional teams from Formula 4 up to F2, where the accuracy is such that they compare simulator data against real data to coach their drivers.
For a driver midway through only his second F1 season and currently leading the World Drivers’ Championship as the youngest championship leader in F1 history, having that level of preparation tool at home isn’t a flex. It’s infrastructure.
Advertisement

Component
Specification
Simulator model
Cool Performance Formula Pro
Edition/build
Kimi Antonelli custom KA12 edition
Cockpit
Formula Pro powder-coated aluminium frame, hand-built in the UK to ISO 9001 standards
Warranty
Lifetime warranty on frame
Seating
Custom Formula-style fibreglass seat with hand-stitched leather
Seat branding
KA12 initials, race number and signature embroidery
Wheel base
CP-S Leo Bodnar Ultimate Simsteering system
Torque
26Nm
Steering wheel
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team sim racing steering wheel
Steering controls
Functional dials, buttons, switches, clutch paddles, up/down paddle and rocker controls
Pedal set
CP-S custom adjustable hydraulic pedal set
Pedal adjustment
Fully electronic adjustment with linear bearing actuation
Pedal tuning
Adjustable heel rest distance, heel rest angle, pedal travel, pedal angle and pedal pressure
Display setup
Triple 27-inch Samsung Odyssey curved monitors
Display spec
UHD, 240Hz
PC
Custom gaming PC build
Graphics card
Nvidia RTX 5080
Processor
Intel Core i9
Feedback system
CP-S haptic vibration feedback system
Motion system
No full-motion system listed; tactile/haptic feedback used instead
Software
CP-S bespoke configuration setup and full suite of racing titles
Livery/design
Custom matte bl