13/09/2025 16:55
Kimi Antonelli has been warned that his Mercedes F1 "honeymoon" is
over and that he is now facing the reality of "big boy" grand prix
racing. Antonelli started his rookie campaign well, taking fourth
on debut from 16th on the grid in a wet Australian GP, led and set
fastest lap in Japan before taking Sprint pole in Miami but his
form has dipped since the European season started. This has not
entirely been his fault with Mercedes failures putting him out at
Imola, in Spain, before collision damage for which he was innocent
led to a retirement in the British GP. However, in Monaco
qualifying, he crashed, before out-braking himself and wiping out
Max Verstappen on Lap 1 in Austria before a similar incident
against Charles Leclerc at the Dutch GP cost him a chance of a
strong points finish. In FP1 at Zandvoort, and again in FP2 at
Monza, Antonelli beached his W16 early in the sessions, missing
crucial track time but did go onto start sixth for his home GP. At
Monza, he picked up a five-second penalty and further penalty point
for forcing Alex Albon off track, and after a poor start, came home
10th, with boss Toto Wolff criticising Antonelli publicly for the
first time, branding his performance as "underwhelming." Of the
2025 class of rookies, only Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar were
in the same position of never having started a grand prix like
Antonelli, but whilst their performances improve, Antonelli's trend
is downwards. It is something former F1 driver Perry McCarthy feels
will be a huge test for the Italian protege. "I mean, you've got to
come in at some point, and it's been the same for Gabriel and for
Isack, and for Kimi, there are lots of things, especially nowadays,
being monitored," McCarthy told RacingNews365. "I just sense that
maybe there is not as much protection for him at Mercedes as there
was, and that they are going to be looking at it through squinted
eyes a bit more. "Maybe the honeymoon is beginning to go now, it is
big boy time, and there are two types of pressure in this game.
"You are either taking it, or you're handing it out; that is the
principal thing about this game, and you've got to be able to do
with it. "If you closely examine all the things which have
happened to Kimi, then you probably make more allowances, but the
problem is that it becomes even more important when you don't have
mechanical problems or team problems that you show what you can do,
rather than throwing your errors on top of the team ones or bad
luck. "So it comes back to the pressure, and suddenly all the
focus is now on Kimi's mistakes rather than the achievements, and
that is the problem. "As soon as you start getting that as a
racing driver, you're looking over your shoulder all the time."
