Helmut Marko slams Mercedes in Kimi Antonelli ‘unnecessary pressure’ claim

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko believes Mercedes piled “unnecessary pressure” on Andrea Kimi Antonelli by handing the teenager his F1 practice debut at his home race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Antonelli, who is set to be confirmed as Lewis Hamilton ‘s replacement for the F1 2025 season, made his first appearance on an F1 race weekend on Friday as he participated in FP1 at Monza.

Helmut Marko: Mercedes put ‘unnecessary pressure’ on Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

However, the 18-year-old’s debut was short-lived as Antonelli crashed at Parabolica just 10 minutes into the session.

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, defended the decision to field Antonelli amid the “shenanigans” at Monza, insisting the boy wonder must “cope with the pressure if he wants to be champion one day.”

Wolff went on to drop the biggest hint yet that Antonelli will be promoted as George Russell’s team-mate for F1 2025, revealing the team are expecting such mistakes “to happen next year” alongside “a lot of highlights” with Mercedes preferring to focus on the youngster’s “astonishing” pace.

An announcement on Mercedes’ F1 2025 driver lineup is believed to be imminent and could even arrive before Sunday’s race at Monza.

Red Bull have established a reputation for nurturing young talent over the years, with the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and reigning three-time World Champion Max Verstappen all emerging from the team’s famed driver academy.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after Friday practice at Monza, Marko revealed he was encouraged by Antonelli’s pace.

But he claimed Mercedes had managed Antonelli poorly by choosing the Italian GP as the scene of the Bologna-born driver’s first official F1 outing.

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Marko said: “He was fast. I think that’s a good sign, yes.

“But on the other side, if you put him in Italy for the first time in F1 practice, I think that was unnecessary pressure for him.”

Put to him that it is better for young drivers to be fast and makes mistakes than be slow and steady, he added: “Yes, it’s our philosophy as well.”

Antonelli was not the only driver taking his first steps in F1 at Monza on Friday as Franco Colapinto made his first appearance for Williams since replacing Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the season.

The Argentine, whose only previous experience on an F1 race weekend came at Silverstone in July, was classified 17th in both FP1 and FP2, with Colapinto within two tenths of established team-mate Alex Albon in the afternoon session.

Colapinto’s promotion came after Williams failed to sign Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson on loan for the rest of F1 2024.

PlanetF1.com understands that the deal collapsed after Williams refused to agree to Red Bull’s request for a recall option on Lawson’s services given the fluid driver situation across both Red Bull-owned teams, with Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo not guaranteed to finish the season in their current seats.

Asked if it is true that Williams did not agree to Red Bull’s terms, Marko said: “Yes. But I won’t tell you the terms!”

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