Toto Wolff’s verdict on Kimi Antonelli’s breakthrough win and Mercedes F1 2025 driver choice
Will Mercedes' recent resurgence impact their F1 2025 driver decision? Toto Wolff has his say.
Toto Wolff has given his verdict on Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s breakthrough Formula 2 win and provided the latest on the team’s driver decision-making process for F1 2025.
After making a disappointing start to the 2024 season, Mercedes have enjoyed a turnaround in competitiveness in recent weeks, winning back-to-back races at the Austrian and British Grands Prix.
Mercedes are in need of a replacement for Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton, who claimed an emotional, drought-ending first victory since 2021 last time out at Silverstone.
Asked if Mercedes' uptick in form will make their driver decision for 2025 harder, Wolff insisted: “It doesn't influence our thinking.
"I've always said we need a car that goes quick and when we have a car that goes quick, we put the driver in and we get interesting. Interesting for many drivers.
"But, in a way, I think we need to stay calm and continue the season, continue to focus on the car and then look at whether the options are still the same and... but it's not like this [winning races is] changing everything and [turning] upside down.”
While the likes of Carlos Sainz are available, Mercedes are believed to be favouring promoting their 17-year-old protege Antonelli, who scored his maiden F2 win in the Silverstone sprint race.
"I had this moment where you see the greatest British driver checking out with us at the British Grand Prix and in the garage, you have this young Italian that hasn't got a driving licence even, that was watching that scene, and I bet he thought, 'I want to be that one day’. Maybe not here, maybe Monza,” Wolff said of Antonelli.
"F2 is so difficult this year because the car... you can see that him and [teammate Oliver Bearman are struggling a lot with the car and he isn't happy with his driving and not [having] the pace in the race.
"But seeing him on Saturday walking over the water, at times two seconds quicker than everybody else, you can see the talent and the ability and the potential this young guy has.
“Winning that race I think took a lot of weight off his shoulders. Today it was a DNF but it wasn't his fault. Susie [Wolff] always says ‘you qualify with numpties, you race with numpties’.”
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