Wolff delivers verdict on Mercedes' Antonelli gamble

17:33, 04 Nov

Updated: 19:10, 04 Nov

byDrew Murphy

Mercedes has confirmed Kimi Antonelli will remain with the team in 2026, and Toto Wolff believes the Italian will show the “real Kimi” next season.

“Next year’s a reset. He now knows all the tracks, he knows about the media pressure and how to work within the team, so we’re going to see the real Kimi next year.”

- Toto Wolff

The Mercedes boss is confident the rookie will hit the ground running next season and be better prepared to deal with the challenges of Formula 1 in his sophomore campaign.

The German team confirmed their 2026 driver line-up ahead of the United States Grand Prix in October, stating Antonelli will once again join George Russell at the Silver Arrows.

George Russell, Kimi Antonelli and Toto Wolff. Photo: RacePictures

Antonelli has had a tricky first season in F1, with a good start but falling short of expectations in the European leg of the season, but has ultimately revitalised his season with a P5 in Singapore and a P6 in Mexico.

Wolff is assured that the Italian rookie is world champion material and will be battling it out for the top step soon.

Speaking to F1, he said: “Kimi has a long-term future. I think it’s very tricky to come into this generation of cars without having driven them against all of the guys that know ground effect cars.

“Next year’s a reset. He now knows all the tracks, he knows about the media pressure and how to work within the team, so we’re going to see the real Kimi next year."

Photo: RacePictures.

Wolff was questioned over whether the 19-year-old needed to improve on his drastic performance swings across different tracks.

He replied: “It’s so difficult to find correlation between the simulator and the wind tunnel, then you come to a track and it’s all different.

“We didn’t expect to be that competitive in Singapore, but we have been... It’s a bit of a surprise box with the regulations, and all the front-running teams seem to suffer from correlation issues.”

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