Mercedes Boss Toto Wolff Criticizes Kimi Antonelli After "Underwhelming" Italian GP

Kimi Antonelli has received his first public admonishment from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff following an "underwhelming" performance at the Italian Grand Prix.

Why it matters:

As a potential future Mercedes driver, Antonelli is under immense pressure. This public criticism from Wolff signals that while faith in his long-term potential remains, immediate improvements are expected, especially regarding weekend consistency and avoiding costly errors.

The details:

Antonelli's Monza weekend was far from clean:

• Practice Errors: In Free Practice 2, he put his car in the gravel, losing valuable time for long-run evaluations, a crucial preparation for the race.
• Race Start: From P6, he suffered excessive wheelspin off the grid, dropping him to 10th.
• Track Limits & Penalties: During his recovery to eighth, he received a black and white flag for repeated track limits offenses. Later, he incurred a five-second penalty for forcing Alex Albon off track, ultimately classifying him ninth, while teammate George Russell finished fifth.
• Zandvoort Context: This followed an incident-filled Dutch GP, where he crashed with Charles Leclerc.

Toto Wolff's comments:

Wolff's tone shifted significantly from his robust defense after Zandvoort. He stated:

• "Underwhelming this weekend. Underwhelming. You can’t put the car in the gravel bed and expect to be there."
• "All of the race was underwhelming. It doesn't change anything in my support and confidence in his future because I believe he's going to be very, very, very good. But today was… underwhelming."
• Wolff also suggested Antonelli might be carrying "baggage" from previous mistakes, impacting his aggression. He cited Antonelli's timidness against Pierre Gasly, linking it to the Leclerc crash.

Antonelli's perspective:

Antonelli admitted his race was severely impacted by the start and his practice mistakes.

• "I didn't do long runs in FP2 because of my mistakes, so I wasn't really prepared for the race."
• He acknowledged the wheelspin at the start "ruined" his race.

What's next:

Wolff believes Antonelli possesses "unbelievable ability and natural talent" but needs to overcome mental barriers.

• Wolff aims to help Antonelli achieve "a clean weekend" by freeing him from the "trauma of previous mistakes."
• "It’s just freeing him up. Freeing him up... But we need to get rid of the ballast."