Toto Wolff hits back at rival teams who said Kimi Antonelli shouldn't even be in F1

Antonelli has a very different status 12 months on. His win in Austin was his ninth of the season and arrives at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with 365 points and a 123-point lead over teammate George Russell, so two points on Sunday will be enough to crown him champion.

Wolff singled out the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix as the low point. Antonelli, then 18, was knocked out in Q1 and qualified 18th. He was in tears before he faced the media. Wolff admitted that weekend that Mercedes had got the sprint format wrong, saying the team's preparation was "just not acceptable, especially not for a rookie."

The Austrian says the criticism came from several directions. "The many people that said last year after nine races without points, he shouldn't be in a Mercedes," Wolff told Sky Sports. He then went further and pointed at people in the paddock.

Wolff was candid about how little he understands the scale of the transformation, admitting: "I don't know what happened over the winter." His best guess is that the new rules levelled the field. "I think maybe it was to his benefit that the regulations were all new," he said. He added: "Last year he came in, and those cars existed for four years."

A conversation before the United States Grand Prix shows how far Antonelli's mindset has moved on since Spa. "In Austin, he came to my office before getting ready, before getting dressed and just sat down on the sofa and said, 'I'm going to enjoy this one. And isn't it funny? I'm not thinking at all about the championship'," Wolff recalled. His answer was simple: "I said, 'well, exactly stick to that attitude. You have the best job in the world. Don't forget that.'"

Speaking after that race, Wolff said his driver was "on a discovery mission there also in terms of what's happening to him emotionally,".

The numbers back up Wolff's point. Antonelli finished his first season seventh in the drivers' standings, and Russell scored more than twice as many points. This year he has won half of the 18 rounds so far, including a victory from the back of the grid at Monza, and he has a 123-point lead over Russell.

If he wins the title, Antonelli will become the youngest champion in Formula 1 history. The Italian, though, wants more than a points finish this weekend. "The perfect way would be to finish off in style and enjoy the rest of the season," he said.