27/07/2025 12:15
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has been urged to immediately
hand Kimi Antonelli a new contract to boost the teenager's ailing
confidence following a miserable run of results. Antonelli's rookie
season has stalled since F1 started the European leg. The
18-year-old has suffered four retirements in five of the races,
finishing 18th in the other. For this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix,
Antonelli has endured further misery as he qualified last for the
sprint and 18th for the grand prix. A power unit change means he
will start an anticipated wet race at Spa Francorchamps from the
pit lane. Following qualifying, it was clear from Antonelli's red
eyes, noticeable in his interviews conducted a considerable period
after he had exited, that his emotions had seemingly got the better
of him. Nico Rosberg, the 2016 F1 champion, could understand
Antonelli's pain. "It really hurts me to see him in an interview
like that, because I can super relate as to how tough and horrible
the moment is for him," he said in his role as a Sky Sports F1
analyst. "George [Russell] is P6, and he's all the way down, almost
at the end of the grid. It's so, so tough. Everybody's criticising
you and looking at you a little bit negatively. "Internally, in the
team, it's a very, very difficult dynamic, and he doesn't have a
contract for next year either, so his whole dream at some point is
also at play here. It's a horrible, difficult moment." Asked as to
what he would do if he were in Wolff's shoes, Rosberg made it clear
his former boss should act now rather than waiting and dragging on
the doubt over Antonelli's future with the team, claiming the
teenager is "a generational talent". "What I may do in Toto's case,
I would sign that contract with him," added Rosberg. "Anyways, it's
not much money, and that would give him such a boost of confidence.
"If, by any chance, it goes bad towards the end of the year, you
can still pay him out and make a change, as we've always seen in
F1. "But just signing that contract would give him this one
step-change of comfort, relaxation, time. It could be something
interesting." Asked to clarify whether that meant putting pen to
paper this weekend, Rosberg replied: "Yeah, go for it. Sign the
paper because it's not much money. Worst case, if everything goes
wrong, Toto can still get out of the contract."
