08/09/2025 12:55
Toto Wolff has described Kimi Antonelli's performance across the
Italian Grand Prix as "underwhelming" after a tricky weekend.
Antonelli qualiifed seventh fastest, but was promoted to sixth
after Lewis Hamilton's penalty for his highest grid spot since
fourth in Canada, but suffered a messy race. He received a black
and white flag for track limit violations, whilst also earning a
five-second time penalty and one penalty point for forcing Alex
Albon off-track during the race. This time penalty dropped him to
ninth from eighth on the road, with Albon now jumping ahead of the
Italian in the drivers' standings. Antonelli's weekend had got off
to a bad start after he beached the car at the exit of the second
Lesmo early in FP2 on Friday, with Wolff critical of Antonelli's
performance, but still offered him encouragement. "Underwhelming
this weekend, underwhelming," Wolff told media, including
RacingNews365 , of Antonelli's performance. "You can't put the car
in the gravel bed and then expect to be there, and all of the race
was underwhelming. "It doesn't change my support and confidence in
him, because I believe he's going to be very, very, very good, but
[Sunday] was underwhelming. "A clean weekend also means that you
don't carry too much trauma of previous mistakes into the next
session or next weekend, because that is luggage if you're not
going to attack the corner hard because you've been off there
before and it finished your session. "Or maybe, you are not
attacking a driver who should not be in your way, like [Pierre]
Gasly, because you had this situation with [Charles] Leclerc, and I
mean Kimi shouldn't even lose a second with Gasly. "We just need to
free him up and drive. He's a great driver, he has this
unbelievable ability and natural talent, but we need to go get rid
of the ballast." When asked how this would be achieved, Wolff
simply replied: "By talking."
