Components 1 workforce principal Toto Wolff couldn’t have coped with ’s strain as a 19-year-old, explaining he was “a little bit of an fool” at that age.
Antonelli grew to become F1’s third-youngest driver in historical past this season at 18 years outdated due to his single-seater prowess – 4 titles in Components 4 and Components Regional. He additionally was the primary F1 debutant in a high workforce since at and at Renault in 2007.
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Antonelli had proven indicators of being affected by strain in a house outing at Monza final yr, crashing out of FP1 on his first push lap, and struggled once more underneath the burden of expectations in 2025 – with waves of social media abuse compounding his points.
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Nonetheless, Mercedes chiefs have enthused concerning the Italian teenager’s skilled perspective relative to his age.
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“I’d say it is virtually been a recreation of three thirds,” Mercedes Excessive Efficiency Powertrains managing director Hywel Thomas informed the Past The Grid podcast about Antonelli’s maiden season, after the rookie got here seventh within the 2025 drivers’ championship.
“As a result of he got here into the workforce, and naturally in these early races you are like, ‘Wow, that is unbelievable, that this man with such little expertise is admittedly placing it on the market’. Then he had his blip and the outcomes weren’t there. And now he is come again tremendous robust. Actually spectacular.
“And to suppose, , he is the age that he’s and he is coping with all of it. And he is very, very clever. He offers with individuals actually, very well, and [he’s] very, very mature. Now, I’ve received youngsters his age and so they’re not that mature, I can inform you that for nothing, they would not like to listen to that, however they don’t seem to be.”
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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Wolff concurred: “The factor is that after we converse with Kimi, we’re brutally sincere when it is good and when it is unhealthy. And then you definitely remind your self that you simply’re not sitting reverse an grownup. Kimi’s extra child than an grownup.
“And you need to remind your self that he is simply 19. Sure, he is a professional within the automotive and he is been karting all his life and racing all his life. However from the maturity, we’re anticipating an acceleration of development that’s virtually too troublesome. He is been thrown into this, and I feel whenever you take a look at a number of the worse races, it is simply overwhelming the expertise that he is making with the entire curiosity, the media strain – they’re writing you up and down.
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“You have got an especially fast and skilled team-mate [] and he is nonetheless coping. And I feel that exhibits that he has nice potential for the longer term, as a result of like Hywel says, once I was 19, I used to be a little bit of an fool. I would not have been ready to deal with the pressures that he’s. And that is why, once I discuss to him, I am a bit of bit harsh with him, I must virtually take myself again and say, ‘Maintain on a minute, , he is a child’. And that is fairly an fascinating studying for us additionally.”
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