08/09/2025
NEWS STORY
Despite an "underwhelming" weekend at Monza, Toto Wolff insists that he stands by protege Kimi Antonelli.
What should have been a joyful home race in front of his countrymen, was instead a tough weekend for the teenager, incurring a time penalty and being shown the black and white flag for track limits violations during the race and sidelined for much of FP2 after getting beached in a gravel trap.
Finishing eighth on the road, the penalty dropped him to ninth, causing him to admit: "That wasn't the Italian Grand Prix we were hoping for...
"I had a bad start with too much wheelspin," he explained. "I lost a lot of places and that obviously really compromised my race unfortunately.
"It was a shame as my pace on the medium tyre once I was in clear air was good," he insisted. "In the closing stages, I was trying to defend from Albon but unfortunately picked up a penalty. That dropped me one more position at the flag which is frustrating."
"Underwhelming this weekend," said Toto Wolff, when asked of Antonelli's performance. "Underwhelming.
"You can't put the car in the gravel bed and expect to be there," he added. "All of the race was underwhelming.
"It doesn't change anything on my support and confidence in his future," the Austrian insisted, "because I believe he's going to be very, very, very good. But today was... underwhelming."
The Mercedes boss was particularly unhappy at Antonelli's failure to deal with Gasly quicker than he did, though he somewhat appreciated the youngster's hesitancy.
"You're not going to attack the corner hard if you've been off there before and it finished your session, or maybe you're not attacking a driver that should not be in your way like Gasly because he had this situation with Leclerc.
"Kimi shouldn't lose even a second on Gasly," he added.
Claiming that Antonelli carries too much baggage, when asked how this can be rectified, Wolff replied: "Just freeing him up, freeing him up.
"You know, he's a great driver, he has this unbelievable ability and natural talent. He's a racer. It's all there. But we need to get rid of the ballast."