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Toto Wolff boasts as Mercedes boss enjoys his 'little revenge'

Photo: Race Pictures

11:44, 16 Mar

byKada Sarkozi

After the Chinese Grand Prix, Toto Wolff revealed the meaning of his post-race team radio message to Kimi Antonelli.

"It's nice to have a little revenge."

- Toto Wolff

The Austrian CEO and team principal was glad to see the Mercedes prodigy win his first Formula 1 Grand Prix. Over the team radio, he said: "He's too young. We shouldn't put him a Mercedes. Put him in a smaller team. He needs the experience. Look at the mistakes he makes. Here we go Kimi. Victory."

Reacting to his message, Wolff told GPblog among others after the race: "When all of a sudden things go bad, there's the people that come out and say that was a bad decision and Mercedes took too much risk.

"It was never like really harsh criticism because people recognize the talent that Kimi has. But there were many voices within the sport and outside that said that was a mistake to do. So it's nice to have a little revenge."

Kimi Antonelli on the podium in China - Photo: Race Pictures

The team principal also highlighted that in Formula 1, everyone's memory resets once the next weekend is on. "Today it's great. In two weeks we are in Japan and he puts it in the wall and people say he’s too young. So I think we need to just keep the feet on the ground."

Wolff asks Italian media to decrease pressure on Antonelli

The Austrian added: "You need to write that in Italy also. Please help him, because remember last year, ‘Grande Kimi’, whatever it was, and then came Imola and it was an avalanche of pressure. There shouldn't be any pressure at the moment."