Toto Wolff has shared his concerns about Kimi Antonelli, even as the Mercedes driver continues his impressive start to the current F1 season.
Kimi Antonelli’s growth over the winter break has been significant. His rookie season showed plenty of promise with several podium finishes, but it was also marked by a series of mistakes, particularly during the European stretch of the campaign.
This year, under new regulations, he has come back looking much sharper. While George Russell won the opening race of the season, Antonelli has since taken control in the Grand Prix races.
Antonelli now holds a 20-point lead over Russell in the standings. That success has led Mercedes to make some adjustments behind the scenes. Team principal Toto Wolff is said to have reduced Antonelli’s interactions with Italian media after his strong start put him firmly in title contention.
Toto Wolff shares concerns about Kimi Antonelli’s mistakes in the 2026 F1 season
Kimi Antonelli has been a big talking point early in the 2026 F1 season, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was asked during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport when he thinks the young Italian will make his first mistakes of the campaign.
At the Miami Grand Prix, Wolff noticed that Antonelli looked a bit overconfident during the Sprint race, which led to several errors. It wasn’t his best session by any means.
Antonelli crossed the line in fourth but dropped to sixth after a five-second penalty for track limits. Wolff later admitted he considered stepping in over the radio as the warnings piled up.
Asked about when he expects mistakes to happen this season, Wolff said: “That’s exactly what scares me. Kimi is young, he’s charismatic, a rising star… but after a brilliant start, he might hit a rough patch.
“And I don’t want people saying ‘Oh what happened? Did we get it wrong?’ It will all be part of growing up and learning from these setbacks. That’s something we’re ready for as a team.”
Toto Wolff did not expect Kimi Antonelli to start 2026 this well
After his comments about the importance of managing expectations, Wolff was asked if Antonelli’s early season success had caught even Mercedes by surprise.
The 19-year-old stepped into one of the most high-profile seats in the sport this year, replacing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes were fully aware of the pressure that would come with that role long before Antonelli’s promotion became official.
“Yes, absolutely. I often said it last year: bringing an eighteen-year-old into the team would have given us moments of celebration and others where we wanted to tear our hair out over his mistakes,” Wolff replied.
“But it was a necessary process to get him to know the team. Helping him is the fact that this is a new generation of cars and that all the drivers are still learning. I expected a good start, but I have to admit: three wins in a row was not something we had expected.”
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