Toto Wolff has acknowledged that placing Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes for his rookie Formula 1 season means any mistakes made by the teenager will be “more visible” than they were for George Russell when the latter entered the sport with Williams.
Antonelli made his F1 weekend debut in the opening practice session at the Italian Grand Prix, where – despite impressing with his initial laps – his time behind the wheel quickly came to an end when he crashed into the barriers after just 10 minutes of running.
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The error did not prevent the Silver Arrows from confirming one day later that the youngster will partner Russell at the squad in 2025, with both drivers having progressed through the ranks as part of Mercedes’ Junior Programme.
Reflecting on the likenesses between Antonelli and Russell’s journeys to the F1 team, Wolff commented: “I think most of the credit needs to go to Gwen [Lagrue], who manages our academy, and his team, because they’re able to scout from the very early age onwards.
“We as Mercedes wouldn’t have found Kimi – he was 11 years old, we saw the results on track and obviously working with the kart teams. It’s amazing to see, as with George, [who] actually found us, put his best suit on and went to see me in my office with a PowerPoint presentation.