Monza Misstep: Toto Wolff Reflects on Kimi Antonelli’s High-Speed FP1 Crash and the Road Ahead for Mercedes’ F1 Prospect

Toto Wolff discloses his conversation with Kimi Antonelli following the FP1 accident

Crash.net's Lewis Larkam reports from Monza, bringing updates from the Mercedes team principal

Toto Wolff has provided details about his discussion with Andrea Kimi Antonelli after the Mercedes junior driver participated in his first F1 practice session at the Italian Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old driver, anticipated to be officially announced soon as Lewis Hamilton's successor at Mercedes for the 2025 season, experienced a high-speed accident within the first 10 minutes of his debut FP1 session with the team.

During only his second lap, Antonelli lost control at Parabolica and crashed into the barriers. The Italian driver was unharmed in the crash, which caused the session to be temporarily halted with a red flag.

Wolff mentioned that Mercedes would prefer facing the issue of having to slow Antonelli down rather than having to work on making him quicker.

The Austrian informed the media, including Crash.net at Monza, that the most crucial thing is he is alright despite the crash being 45G.

"It's a pity because we had an hour of activities planned and could have witnessed some impressive performances. However, as we all mentioned, he is a novice and quite young."

"We're putting resources into his future, and these kinds of moments will occur. They will keep happening in the coming year."

"We prefer dealing with the challenge of slowing him down rather than trying to speed him up. The performance we witnessed in just one and a half laps was incredible."

When asked about his conversation with Antonelli prior to the session, Wolff humorously responded, "I told him to give it his all!"

"I advised him to have fun with it. In my opinion, he has a great deal of innate talent, and it's crucial to remember that this is the greatest job in the world. I also mentioned that he should try to ease the pressure."

"We're in our own world here, and no one really cares about the first practice session. Whatever comes our way, we'll handle it and move forward. I gave him the same advice once the session ended."

According to Wolff, Antonelli expressed his apologies to the team upon his return to the garage.

Wolff mentioned that the first thing he did was to apologize. He noted that this is necessary when you return a car that appears as if it has been shattered like a Lego set hitting the ground.

"He mentioned that he felt assured and the vehicle was performing well. However, he still faced some unexpected trouble."

"Everyone was struggling with a drop in temperature, particularly at the back of the vehicle when exiting Ascari at such high speeds. That's the reason the rear lost control."

Antonelli is scheduled for another FP1 session in Mexico, and Wolff expressed confidence that the young driver would recover swiftly from his initial difficulties.

Wolff expressed that a capable driver must be able to bounce back from such situations and handle the stress effectively.

"This past weekend was challenging for him, as he still has to participate in F2 races."

"For your first time racing with Mercedes in Monza, dealing with all the chaos around you must be quite challenging."

"However, if his goal is to become a world champion someday, he must learn to handle it. I am completely confident that he is capable of doing so and will achieve it."

Wolff also affirmed that the incident would have "no impact" on the team's choice of driver for 2025.

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