Toto Wolff Reflects on Kimi Antonelli’s Challenging Monza Debut: A Lesson in Pressure and Potential

Toto Wolff expresses regret regarding Kimi Antonelli's first F1 appearance for Mercedes at Monza. He notes that being an Italian driver, 18 years old, and making your debut at Monza creates a unique set of circumstances.

Toto Wolff has indicated that looking back, Andrea Kimi Antonelli's debut race for Mercedes perhaps should not have taken place at Monza, his home track.

Last month, Antonelli took over George Russell's Mercedes for the first practice session at the Italian Grand Prix.

The young driver, aged 18, is set to join the Mercedes team as a full-time racer in 2025, taking over from Lewis Hamilton. The FP1 session provided an opportunity to showcase his skills in an official Formula 1 event.

Although Antonelli started with impressive speed, he soon collided with the barriers early in the session, crashing at Parabolica.

In a conversation with Autosport, Wolff shared his thoughts on Antonelli's debut performance.

Wolff stated, "I wouldn't call it an error, but I believe we didn't fully understand the challenges he might face." He elaborated, "We had discussions about it and considered how to handle the session."

"He has performed exceptionally well during testing, flawlessly navigating the extensive distances without making any errors."

"However, the situation changes completely if you're an 18-year-old Italian driver making your debut at Monza."

"Perhaps if we had evaluated that as a potential risk with the information we had on him, it might have been smarter to schedule his FP1 session in a time zone completely different from Italy. Nonetheless, he will gain significant insights from this experience."

It was later disclosed that Antonelli demonstrated "exceptional speed" before his crash.

Even after the accident, Wolff supported Antonelli's strategy.

Wolff expressed his concern, saying that he believed it would be detrimental and embarrassing for him.

"He was incredibly fast during his initial session in Italy, just before being officially declared as a driver, which everyone had anticipated."

"I appreciate his method. He quickly gains speed right after leaving the pits, which he has clearly shown. Naturally, I would have liked to see him ranking higher on the leaderboard, but that opportunity was lost because the car took off, and some of the fast speeds were only reached later in the weekend."

"It was clear that he was driving faster than what the track conditions and the car's capabilities could handle at that moment. It was about finding the right balance between his ambition, drive, and skill, while also remembering that the first practice session is just that – a practice session."

"I realized that it would cause him emotional pain."

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