Revealed: Toto Wolff’s ‘five-minute’ Kimi Antonelli timeline after Lewis Hamilton bombshell

Toto Wolff has revealed he made up his mind to promote Kimi Antonelli to Mercedes immediately after Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move was confirmed.

Hamilton’s bombshell move to join Ferrari for 2025 was revealed back in January, leaving Mercedes’ Toto Wolff scratching his head on who to sign to replace him – but only for five minutes.

Toto Wolff: This is the line-up I wanted for Mercedes

Over the last six months, Kimi Antonelli, as a leading light of Mercedes’ junior programme, appeared a very likely candidate for the seat being vacated by Lewis Hamilton.

But, given his inexperience and fast-track rise through the ranks, only moving into Formula 2 this year, Mercedes did weigh up other options as Carlos Sainz appeared to be briefly in consideration.

Max Verstappen was very publicly courted by Wolff as the Dutch driver’s contract situation with Red Bull briefly appeared tenuous, although the reigning World Champion eventually distanced himself from the possibility of a shock switch to Mercedes.

But, while Verstappen may have been the main target had he become available, Wolff confirmed that, of those available, promoting his own driver Antonelli up alongside George Russell – a former Mercedes junior himself – was the line-up he really wanted.

“I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me that he’s going to Ferrari,” Wolff smiled as he spoke to media, including PlanetF1.com, at the Italian Grand Prix.

“Obviously, we were discussing other options, and also didn’t discount the Max idea by looking at what happened at Red Bull.

“But, instinctively, this is the lineup with these two that I always wanted, bearing in mind the fast-tracking that we did with Kimi and everything related there too, but that was immediately what I wanted to do.”

Antonelli, sitting beside Wolff for a flurry of media activities on Saturday morning following the announcement, said he wasn’t informed of this certainty until much more recently.

“Straight after the [Lewis] announcement, there’s been a lot of talking with Toto and the team as well,” he said when asked for his timeline on the decision.

“But, always the goal was for me to deliver in F2, in this case, and also during the TPC testing.  My goal was always to try to deliver and then wait to see what the decision was.

So, no, actually, I was testing in Silverstone with an F3 car, so I wasn’t there!”

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Toto Wolff ‘absolutely ready’ for Kimi Antonelli mistakes

While Mercedes brought Russell into F1 via a placement with Williams for a few years of learning, the Brackley-based squad has used the opportunity of Hamilton’s bombshell to give its young driver a golden opportunity with the team itself – a big risk, considering Antonelli’s inexperience.

Wolff paid tribute to Mercedes’ junior scouts, led by Gwen Lagrue, for having uncovered the young Italian several years ago during his karting days.

“I think most of the credit needs to go to Gwen [Lagrue] and his team, who manages our academy because they are able to scout from a very early age onwards,” Wolff said.

“We, as Mercedes, wouldn’t have found Kimi. He was 11 years old, and we saw the results on the track and obviously working with the karting teams.

“But it’s amazing to see.

“With George, he actually found us, put his best suit on, and went to see me in my office with a PowerPoint presentation!

“Now, with Kimi, it was Gwen who found Kimi. So it’s good that we are now here, in 2024, with two very serious juniors that we were able to support from the very early stages of their career.

“George has ticked all the boxes, won all the championships that were necessary, and, in the same way, Kimi.”

While Russell had to put in the hard yards with Williams for three years before earning his Mercedes promotion, Wolff’s admission that perhaps the British driver had spent too long at the back of the grid meant the team is eager not to make the same mistake with Antonelli.

“Maybe we’ve learned a lesson as George was maybe too long at Williams,” he said.

“He did some of the mistakes at Williams, where he was also visible. Now we fast-tracked Kimi and the mistakes are going to be more visible because it’s in a Mercedes.

“But we’re absolutely ready for that investment. Having these two guys, full Mercedes juniors, now in Formula 1 is really great to see, and it’s a testament to the work of the junior team looking at the minis today, the under-10s that are racing in karting.”

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