12/09/2025 17:20
2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg has pledged to write to Kimi
Antonelli to offer him advice amid his ongoing struggles at
Mercedes. Antonelli commenced his rookie F1 campaign in strong
fashion with five top-six results in the opening six rounds, as
well as sprint pole success in Miami. However, the European leg of
the season has largely been a struggle for the 19-year-old, who has
bagged just three points in the last six rounds. Antonelli's
position has not yet been confirmed at Mercedes next year, nor has
team-mate George Russell's. Rosberg has suggested Mercedes should
announce Antonelli's F1 drive for 2026 as soon as possible in an
effort to get his confidence back on track. "I said that a couple
of weeks or months ago even, give him the contract, because you
need to give him whatever you can at the moment, just to help him
with his confidence," Rosberg told Sky F1 . "Anyway, in F1, you
know that worst, worst case, you can still get out of that then
during the winter. "Obviously, you don't have to say that now, but
I would also consider that." Nico Rosberg offers Kimi Antonelli
advice Antonelli endured a difficult race last time out at Monza as
he dropped down the order following an encouraging qualifying
effort, which saw him only narrowly bested by Russell. Mercedes
team principal Toto Wolff admitted he found the performance
"underwhelming" while highlighting his long-term faith in the
Italian. Rosberg advised Antonelli to focus on the positive
elements of his race weekends as he vowed to write a private
message to him. "It's a tough one," Rosberg said. "He is kind of a
personality like Lando, or like myself, if I may add myself to
this, more vulnerable, more sensitive, more dwelling on the
negativities, scared of not being good enough, scared of not doing
well enough. "And he's doing the same little unfortunate thing that
Lando [Norris] does. Lando also communicates so much about his
mistakes and things. "We had him on the sky microphone after
qualifying. And by all means, the qualifying was fantastic. He was
only four hundredths from George Russell, so great qualifying.
"Could have just focused on, 'hey, that was good, I'm really happy,
I felt better for the first time in qualifying. Really happy to be
right there with George'. "But instead, he spent most of the time
speaking about 'yeah, that mistake in FP2, it's still hanging in
there for me now, and I need to try and find a way to avoid that'.
"And that's something where someone needs to tell him that as well,
it's something you can actually quite easily adapt. "You just say,
'Hey Kimi, something that could help you also, just focus on the
good things from now on going forward. Don't repeat talk about
anything that happened in the past that's negative when talking to
media'. "You know what? I might actually write to him. Why not? I
don't have his number, but I'll write to him somehow, because
that's easy advice."
