HUGE blunder from Toto Wolff – When Toto Wolff became Mercedes team principal in 2014 he received little or no education in how it would feel to be the boss of a team struggling to build a winning Formula One car.
Mercedes dominated the sport for eight seasons, winning seven drivers’ championships and eight constructor titles. Yet early in his career as the boss of an F1 team, Wolff issued out on the opportunity to sign Max Verstappen, something he regrets to this day.
With Hamilton and Rosberg competing fiercely for there drivers crown each season, there appeared to be no room at the Mercedes inn for the youngest ever F1 driver. So when the German brand’s young driver programme delivered a young Italian driver, labelled by the sport’s media as the ‘next Max’, Wolff decided this time he would not miss out.
Antonelli ‘the first’ since Hamilton
He replaced the departing Lewis Hamilton with Kimi Antonelli, who had been afforded some 10,000 kilometres of testing in previous cars during the 2024 racing seasons. This unprecedented amount of time in an F1 car for junior driver was supposed to prepare him for life in Formula One.
Yet Antonelli has struggled this year, after a promising start which saw him score in five of the first six race weekends. Since then the highlight for the young Italian was his third place in Canada, but the rest of the last seven race weekends have been something of a disaster for the Mercedes rookie.
Antonelli joining Mercedes was the first time a rookie had been given a seat in a top F1 team since 2007, when Hamilton himself joined the on form McLaren team. Yet unlike Lewis, Kimi’s results have been poor when compared to his team mate and his total lack of confidence was plain for all to see at the recent Belgium Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ new signing is up against a team mate who at times embarrassed the seven times world champion and in 2024 Russell crushed Hamilton 19-5 in the Grand Prix qualifying battle. Questions are now being asked of Wolff’s decision to put a rookie alongside a proven race winner like Russell, whose own F1 education lasted for there years was with the midfield outfit Williams.
Wolff reacted to losing Max
Other than his P3 in Canada, Antonelli has failed to finish four of there last seven races and in the other two his non scoring points finishes were his worst classified results of the year. Even when including his 15 points in Montreal, Antonelli ranks just 13th across the last seven race weekends being outscore 79-15 by his team mate and outscored by the likes of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar.
Two shocking performances in qualifying, both for the Sprint and the Grand Prix, left Antonelli close to years as he explained his difficulties in the media pen. “The confidence wasn’t there, and that showed in the lap time. It is frustrating, as we know we have more pace than we showed today.”
Starting from the pit lane along with Lewis Hamilton in Spa, unlike the seven times world champion, Antonelli failed to make much progress during the race on Sunday. He finished in a lowly sixteenth place, while Hamilton was able to make it up to P7 from a similar starting position. There have been reports recently that Wolff was considering moving his young protege to the Alpine team for next season, where he could ply his trade as Russell did in his early F1 career, away from the spotlight.
Bringing Antonelli into Mercedes despite his endless testing last season, has proven to be a huge blunder on the part of Toto Wolff who know has tricky decisions to make. Even the young Max himself was afforded a year away from the glare of the media when he debuted in F1, as he was offered at seat at there midfield Toro Rosso Red Bull owned team.
Emotional words about Michael Schumacher
Emotional Antonelli “lacks confidence”
To place Antonelli with a midfield time after a year at Mercedes, will feel like the kind of demotion Liam Lawson experienced after being sent back to the Racing Bulls after just two race weekends this season. There was no place at Williams this year for Antonelli to follow Russell’s apprenticeship, give the team had signed front running driver Carlos Sainz from Ferrari.
Both Sainz and Alex Albon have long term contacts and will remain with Williams until at least the end of 2026. Visibly distraught after his failure in Grand Prix qualifying, Antoneli had this to say to the assembled media. ”Since the European season I’ve been struggling to find confidence with the car and I felt like I’ve done a backward step.
”It’s a difficult moment for me because I feel like I have no confidence on pushing. Yesterday I tried to push a bit too much and then I spun. And then it kind of hurts the confidence even more. “It’s a difficult period, I think. We know the limitations we have, but with the way I’m driving driving I’m just increasing the problem and that gave me even less confidence with the car.’’
Hamilton lends suport to Antonelli
Lewis Hamilton who was present when the young Italian gave his media interviews, was moved to speak in support of his Mercedes’ successor. “I can’t imagine what it’s like at 18 to do what he’s doing,” the 7-time world champion commented. “I think he’s been doing fantastically. To be thrown in at the deep end at 18. He didn’t even have his driving licence when he first started racing in F1,” Lewis added, giving some context to Antonelli’s age and achievements.
“He has got a great group of people around him,” Lewis added before concluding, “You just have to take it in your stride, which I think he is, and he’s got Bono beside him, so he couldn’t have anyone better.”
The Antonelli crisis for Wolff is simply one of his own making and the best solution for any crisis of confidence would be a contract extension, confirming him as a Mercedes F1 driver for another season. Having been introduced to the sport in the deep end, any move to a midfield team now wold feel like a backward step, something hardly likely to improve Antonelli’s confidence.
Russell to take 1 year Mercedes deal
Formula One can be a cruel world for drivers as Carlos Sainz can testify to. The Spaniard was a significant part in Ferrari’s success in 2024 in particular closing the deficit to McLaren from 79 points to just 14 over the final six race weekends of the season.
Yet by the he knew he would be leaving the iconic Scuderia for midfield Williams despite all the contributions he had made to Ferrari’s progress over his four year tenure in Maranello. In many ways, George Russell is facing a similar situation at Mercedes. The young English driver came into the team the year after Lewis Hamilton’s crushing defeat to Max Verstappen in the championship and bested the seven times world champion in two of their three yers together as team mates.
Yet Toto Wolff’s obsession with recruiting Max Verstappen, whom he lost to Red Bull over a decade ago, is overshadowing the achievements of Russell this season. The arrival of rookie Kim Antonelli to replace Hamilton always meant the lions share of the burden to score would fall on Russell, and in this he has delivered…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
