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The FIA confirmed Friday that they had received a request to grant Andrea Kimi Antonelli a super license under special dispensation.

To qualify for an F1 super license, the driver must be 18 years old (among other requirements), and Antonelli is 17. The FIA said, “We are looking into it, but there’s a process to be followed, and multiple people/commissions required to vote and agree to it as it requires a rule change.”

Rumors are swirling around the paddock about whether Antonelli could join the F1 grid as early as Imola. F1 TV’s Will Buxton suggested earlier Friday that the Mercedes junior could replace Logan Sargeant at Imola. Williams team principal James Vowles faced numerous questions about the matter before news broke that the FIA received the super license request.

When asked if it was true that Williams had a desire to put Antonelli in its car before the end of the season, he gave a lengthy answer, touching on how “We have far bigger problems to solve than drivers.” Vowles added that 20 months ago, the Mercedes junior was racing in a Formula Four car — “That’s a large, large step up into a Formula One car in such a short space of time.”

Vowles and Antonelli haven’t spoken to each other since Abu Dhabi last year, the team principal later said during the FIA press conference. But the 17-year-old has been testing in an older Mercedes F1 car at Imola in Italy and Red Bull Ring in Austria.

“I know nothing about what’s going on Mercedes tests right now,” Vowles said. “We are looking as everyone else is for where we want to be on driver lineup for next year, and we have our own young driver program. In the case of Kimi, I can’t really adjudicate at the level he’s at. In case of him coming into the car this year, I’ve always said from the beginning it’s a meritocracy.

“Logan has to earn his seat, and at the moment, he has some tough targets where he has to get much closer to Alex (Albon). But there was nothing on the radar at the moment for replacing him.”