TOTO WOLFF’S ‘MUST COPE’ WARNING TO KIMI ANTONELLI AFTER F1 DEBUT CRASH

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Andrea Kimi Antonelli “needs to cope with the pressure” after the teenage sensation’s F1 race weekend debut went wrong in FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix.

Antonelli, who is set to be confirmed as seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes for F1 2025, participated in opening practice at Monza.

Toto Wolff responds after shaky Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes FP1 debut

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

Yet despite topping the times early in the session, the 18-year-old found himself in the barriers after losing control of his W15 car at the high-speed Parabolica corner.

Antonelli, who has been described as the most exciting talent to arrive in F1 since reigning three-time World Champion Max Verstappen, commenced an extensive F1 testing program with Mercedes earlier this year in preparation for a likely F1 2025 promotion alongside his racing program in F2.

The Bologna-born driver’s crash has reignited concerns in some quarters that Antonelli may not be ready to make his F1 debut in 2025, with the 18-year-old airing reservations of his own last month.

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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com following FP1 at Monza, Wolff – who has revealed that Antonelli’s next practice appearance is likely to be in Mexico in late October – believes Antonelli must deal with the “heavy burden” on his shoulders.

He said: “I think a strong driver needs to recover from these things and cope with the pressure.

“Obviously this weekend wasn’t easy for him because he still needs to compete in F2, you have all these shenanigans around you in Monza, Italian kid that’s being hyped for the first time in a Mercedes.

“That must be a heavy burden, but if he wants to be a champion one day he needs to cope with it.

“I have no doubt that he can and he will.”

Asked if Antonelli’s shaky start will influence Mercedes’ final decsion on their F1 2025 driver line-up, he added: “No, zero. Zero effect.

“I think most important is to hire based on ability and an FP1 that’s gone wrong is not the reason why you decide for or against the driver.”

Wolff went on to reveal that Antonelli registered an impact of 45G in his crash at Parabolica, with the team facing a race against time to repair the car for George Russell to make it out on time for the start of FP2.

The Mercedes boss is braced for more incidents of a similar nature in F1 2025 as Antonelli adjusts to the demands of F1.

He explained: “Most importantly, he’s OK because the crash was 45G, so that’s important.

“Second priority is to get the car ready for George [Russell] so the program doesn’t suffer too much, which hopefully is going to be OK. We may run a little bit late, but it’s going to be OK.

“And the third one, it’s unfortunate because I guess having had an hour to run we would have seen some good performances, but that’s what we always said.

“He’s a rookie, he’s very young, we are prepared to invest into his future and these moments will happen.

“They will continue to happen next year, but there will also be a lot of highlights.

“What we’ve seen today was that we’d rather have a problem in slowing him down than making him faster, because what we’ve seen from one-and-a-half laps is just mind[blowing]. Astonishing.

“He apologised [when he returned to the garage], first of all, and I think this is what you need to do when you bring a car back that looks a little bit like a Lego box falling on the floor.

“But he also said that he felt so much confidence in the car. The car was good and I guess he was just bitten.

“Everybody suffered from lots of temperature, and especially rear temperature out of Ascari, with these kinds of speeds and that’s why the rear went away and stepped out.”

2024-08-30T15:16:52Z dg43tfdfdgfd