23/04/2025 18:20
Toto Wolff has praised Kimi Antonelli for not making "any kamikaze
moves" during the first five grands prix of his rookie F1 year in
which he has also set two records. Mercedes protégé Antonelli was
last year selected as Lewis Hamilton's replacement, and so far has
finished fourth, sixth, sixth, 11th and sixth in his first five
grands prix in Australia, China, Japan, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia,
as well as a seventh place in the Shanghai sprint. Antonelli's
average qualifying result has been 7.8 compared to 3.2 for his more
experienced team-mate George Russell, who holds an advantage of
0.437s - although this is exacerbated by qualifying in Australia
where Antonelli was 0.979s slower than Russell in 16th after floor
damage ended his session early. In the races, Antonelli has only
made one minor mistake, on debut in the tricky conditions at
Melbourne's Albert Park, although he did recover to take fourth
place, and has claimed 38 points so far to sit sixth in the
standings, seven points and one place ahead of Hamilton.
Reflecting on the 18-year-old's progress, Wolff explained he was
pleased to see the Italian avoid anything reckless so far. "It is
a good point to make, to summarise the first five events and where
he stands, I'm really happy," Wolff told media, including
RacingNews365. "The trajectory is right, there haven't been any
kamikaze moves, and he has been consistently learning through the
weekends. "He's always very fast when it comes to the end of the
weekend, and seems to get on top of the car, how to drive the tyres
and is 100 per cent on target. "The European season starts [soon].
He doesn't know Miami [the next race], but then from there, we are
going to have a pretty clear picture of this more natural habitat
of tracks he knows, and he will find performance, but I am happy."
