The third in our 12-day festive countdown feature looks back at WhatsApp and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team collaborating on ‘The Seat’ – a film which told the story of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s path to a 2025 Formula 1 drive.
How do you improve on the idea of using WhatsApp calls to tell the story of Antonelli discovering he had landed a seat with Mercedes? Simple. Release it as a 45-minute documentary on Netflix.
The project chronicled the period leading up to Mercedes selecting the 18-year-old as its 2025 race driver, following months of internal evaluation and development work that had taken place largely out of public view.
At the time of the decision, Antonelli became the third-youngest rookie in F1 history. ‘The Seat’ showed how that call was made, charting the discussions inside Mercedes and the careful preparation that surrounded the Italian teenager’s step up to the works team.
In releasing the documentary, Mercedes and WhatsApp highlighted how the messaging platform functioned as the backbone of internal communication during the decision-making process.
It was also the first original WhatsApp film to debut on Netflix and the second long-form project produced under the brand’s ongoing partnership with Mercedes.
“Selecting Kimi as our race driver for 2025 was, as ‘The Seat’ documents, a big decision. WhatsApp played an instrumental role in this,” said Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff.
“It was the engine that kept everything moving smoothly and privately, allowing our team to focus on Kimi’s development, discuss progress, and ultimately communicate our choice…showing how we arrived at this pivotal moment in the team’s history.”
The project also offered insight into how WhatsApp has become embedded in high-performance environments like Formula 1, where secure and fast communication between race leadership, engineers and drivers is essential.
‘The Seat’ was executive produced by WhatsApp, Modern Arts and RadicalMedia and followed the earlier short film ‘Push, Push’ which featured Lewis Hamilton and was released during the 2024 United States Grand Prix weekend.
“We have always known WhatsApp, and the privacy we afford users, is integral to the inner workings of Mercedes in addition to being a tool in connecting drivers, fans, everyone really to those closest to them,” said Vivian Odior, Global Head of Marketing at WhatsApp.
“It’s why this has been an organic partnership and why we knew we could tell this story authentically and delight this worldwide fandom.”
As an activation, ‘The Seat’ stood out because it tapped into one of the sport’s biggest cultural shifts – fans wanting proximity not just to the racing but to the relationships, resilience and everyday pressures that define a driver’s world.
The reception reflected that shift. The film earned strong engagement across social media and on Netflix – where it sat within the top 10 for a period – with fans praising the more vulnerable portrayal of Antonelli, as well as the distinctive filmmaking style.
