Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted struggling rookie Kimi Antonelli‘s entire Italian Grand Prix was “underwhelming” but has reaffirmed his belief in the teenager as a future superstar.
Antonelli struggled at his home race, qualifying seventh and finishing ninth.
Antonelli, 19, spun out of second practice and then during the grand prix received a black-and-white final warning flag for repeated track limit violations and was given a five-second penalty for running Williams driver Alex Albon off the road.
“Underwhelming this weekend. Underwhelming,” Wolff said about the rookie’s race. “You can’t put the car in the gravel bed and expect to be there. All of the race was underwhelming.
“It doesn’t change anything on my support and confidence in his future because I believe he’s going to be very, very, very good. But today was … underwhelming.”
Despite huge excitement about his talent and a breakthrough podium at the Canadian Grand Prix in June, Antonelli’s form has been in a spiral lately.
Mercedes has acknowledged this season as a steep learning curve for Antonelli, who replaced Lewis Hamilton, statistically the greatest driver in the history of the sport.
Wolff, who briefly eyed four-time world champion Max Verstappen as an option for 2026, has confirmed Antonelli will continue alongside George Russell into 2026.
When asked how Mercedes can unlock the youngster’s potential, Wolff said they need to find a way to remove the pressure he carries with him.
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“Just freeing him up. Freeing him up,” Wolff said. “You know, he’s a great driver. He has this unbelievable ability and natural talent. He’s a race driver. It’s all there. But we need to get rid of the ballast.”
He added: “I think a clean weekend means almost not to carry too much trauma of previous mistakes into the next session or into the next weekend because that is [baggage]. You’re not going to attack the corner hard if you’ve been off there before you’ve finished your session or maybe you’re not attacking a driver that should not be in your way.”
Antonelli is eighth in the championship, 124 points behind Russell.
