Toto Wolff Reveals Impact Of Kimi Antonelli's Italian FP1 Crash On Mercedes Future

Saajan Jogia | Aug 30, 2024

2024 Spanish Grand Prix, Thursday / LAT Images

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said that Andrea Kimi Antonelli's pace in FP1 was "astonishing" and that it was a problem slowing him down rather than making him go faster. However, his outing in George Russell's W15 came to an abrupt ending after he lost control of the car and crashed into the barriers.

Wolff has been banking on Antonelli for a future seat in Mercedes as the F2 driver gets to grips with his Formula 1 opportunity. While an official announcement confirming him alongside Russell hasn't been made yet, the team boss has hinted him to be Lewis Hamilton's replacement several times.

Thus, the Italian driver's home run was most anticipated by many, and Wolff's assessment of his performance suggested that he packed a lot of punch for the W15 F1 car before he lost the rear going into the final Parabolica corner and ultimately crashed into the barriers. Speaking about the major crash and his FP1 outing, Wolff told the media:

“Yeah, most importantly he’s okay because the crash was 45G, so that’s important.

“Second priority is to get the car ready for George, so the programme doesn’t suffer too much. Hopefully it’s going to be okay, it may arrive a little bit late, but it’s going to be okay.

“And the third one, yeah, it’s unfortunate because I guess, having had an hour’s 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 in his future.

“And these moments, they will happen, they will continue to happen next year, but there will also be a lot of highlights.

“I think what we’ve seen today was we 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 astonishing.”

While Antonelli felt confident in the car, Wolff pointed out that the high track temperature caused him to lose traction. The team boss added:

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

“But he also said that the car, he felt so much confidence in the car, the car was good. And I guess he was just beaten.

“Everybody started from lots of temperature, and especially rear temperature, he was carrying this kind of speed, and that’s why the rear went the way it stepped out.”

Despite the crash, Wolff confirmed that it did not influence Antonelli's chances of securing a future Mercedes seat. He said:

“No, zero effect. I think the most important thing is to rely on ability.

“An FP1 that’s gone wrong is not a reason why you decide to fall against the driver.”

Wolff emphasized that the immense stress on the junior driver to drive a Mercedes car in Italy must have added to the pressure, something he must get used to in order to become a future world champion. He added:

“I think there’s a strong driver that needs to recover from these things and cope with the pressure.

“And 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. An Italian that is being hyped for the first time in a Mercedes, and that must be a heavy burden.

“But if he wants to be a champion one day, he needs to cope with that. I have no doubt that he can and he will.”

Antonelli’s next outing in the Mercedes W15 will arrive at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico on the last weekend of October.