Toto Wolff described Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s tempo as “simply astonishing” previous to his crash in FP1 on the Italian Grand Prix, and says the incident received’t influence Mercedes’ resolution on his future.
Antonelli went quickest total together with his first timed lap on his FP1 debut at Monza within the automotive usually run for George Russell, and was trying set to take high spot as soon as once more from teammate Lewis Hamilton earlier than crashing closely on the closing nook on his second run. Regardless of Antonelli’s session ending after simply 10 minutes, Mercedes crew principal Wolff says he’s already proven eye-catching tempo.
“Most significantly, he’s OK, as a result of the crash was 45G, in order that’s necessary,” Wolff mentioned. “Second precedence is to get the automotive prepared for George so this system doesn’t undergo an excessive amount of, which hopefully goes to be OK. We might run a bit of bit late, but it surely’s going to be OK.
“And the third one, yeah, it’s unlucky, as a result of I suppose having had an hour to run, we’d have seen some good performances. However that’s what we at all times mentioned: He’s a rookie, he’s very younger, we’re ready to speculate into his future and these moments, they may occur and they’re going to proceed to occur subsequent 12 months. However there may even be a whole lot of highlights.
“I feel what we’ve seen right now was…. We’d slightly have an issue in slowing him down than making him quicker. As a result of what we’ve seen from one and a half laps is simply astonishing.”
Wolff says Antonelli was apologetic when he returned to the storage after the crash, and believes the younger Italian was merely caught out by the grip on supply from his tires as he turned in for Parabolica.
“He apologized, to start with, and I feel that is what you’ll want to do if you carry a automotive again that appears a bit of bit like a Lego field falling on the ground. But in addition he mentioned that he felt a lot confidence, the automotive was good. And I suppose he was simply bitten.
“Everyone suffered from temperature and particularly rear temperature out of Ascari with these sorts of speeds and that’s why the rear went away and stepped out.”
You’ll bounce again from this Kimi 👊
The crew are working arduous to have George’s automotive prepared for FP2 🛠️🧰💪 pic.twitter.com/C5FZ9pUEQh
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Staff (@MercedesAMGF1) August 30, 2024
Wolff advised Antonelli will get one other outing in FP1 in Mexico Metropolis, and says the crash is a part of the 18-year-old’s studying curve and received’t have a damaging influence on the probability of him getting the vacant race seat in 2025.
“I feel a powerful driver must get better from this stuff and address the stress. And clearly this weekend wasn’t straightforward for him as a result of he nonetheless must compete in F2,” Wolff famous. “You will have all these shenanigans round you in Monza — Italian child that’s being hyped for the primary time in a Mercedes — and that have to be a heavy burden. If he needs to be a champion sooner or later, he wants to deal with that, and I’ve little question that he can and he’ll.
“No, zero impact [on the 2025 decision]. I feel most necessary is to rent based mostly on skill. And an FP1 that’s gone mistaken is just not the explanation why you resolve for or in opposition to the motive force.”
