Toto Wolff responds to Kimi Antonelli after notable admission over F1 future

Toto Wolff praised Kimi Antonelli for a “statement” victory in Formula 2 on Sunday, but added he hopes to see him make mistakes and “learn from them” to gain experience.

Antonelli expressed doubt after taking feature race victory at the Hungaroring about whether or not he would be ready to step up to Formula 1 next season, with the Mercedes junior widely considered to be among the candidates to replace Lewis Hamilton next season.

Toto Wolff on Kimi Antonelli’s prospects after ‘dominant’ F2 victory

With talk about the young Italian increasing as Mercedes potentially look to him as one of the potential drivers to partner George Russell next season, though no decision has been taken yet, he was candid in admitting wondering whether he is quite ready to make the step up.

“I mean… I don’t know if I will be ready, to be honest,” Antonelli said after the chequered flag.

“I’m still learning a lot in F2. Definitely I still do quite a few mistakes. A few details that really matter, I’m still not doing that right.”

Speaking after the Hungarian Grand Prix, Wolff believes the teenager’s win was well-earned in Formula 2, and that he will now get to see if he can keep up his recent performance level, having earned sprint victory in the wet at Silverstone a fortnight beforehand.

“Well, Kimi did a good job today, and that was a dominant win on two different tyre compounds, was really strong – and it was deserved,” Wolff said, before adding that the circumstances behind his win made it a “statement” victory for the 17-year-old.

Antonelli himself said he feels as though he is still making mistakes in Formula 2, though Wolff believes the Italian should keep making them and learning from them to improve.

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When asked what he would like to see his junior driver do, Wolff explained the amount of work he is doing already that he would not have been able to handle at the same age.

“You know that we sometimes forget… remind yourself how you were when you were 17. I clearly can tell you, my lack of maturity would have never allowed me to take the decisions in such a kind of high competitive field,” the Mercedes team principal said.

“What I’d like to see from him is doing mistakes, learning from them, continuing to guide the team in order to improve the performance for for PREMA, tyre management, reading the race, reading the tyre, [as he] has done today, and now we get to see whether he can consolidate it on that level.

“But in F2 it’s always very difficult to adapt, so what we see ourselves is the data of Kimi in Formula 1 testing.”

As for how Antonelli’s recent performances, alongside Max Verstappen’s frustration at Red Bull at the weekend played into Wolff’s thinking regarding a seat for next season, the Mercedes team boss has reiterated he will assess the situation later in the season to see what his options are, and then decide based on the best situation for the team.

“I don’t know, what I always said, we need to concentrate on our car and our performance and take a decision on the drivers late in the year when all the dust settles, what is best for Mercedes,” he said.

“I can’t look too much left [at] what’s happening in Red Bull or what’s happened, [I want] to concentrate on us today, and us means Kimi today in F2 and our two drivers in F1.”

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