David Croft tells Mercedes to make 2026 Kimi Antonelli announcement immediately amid deepening crisis

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Kimi Antonelli is still struggling to find some form at Mercedes as teammate George Russell continues to prove what the car is capable of.

The Italian Grand Prix wasn’t a disaster, but the 18-year-old did beach his car in the gravel and received a five-second penalty for erratic driving during the race. It was the sort of performance that left Mercedes boss Toto Wolff unimpressed with his antics.

It’s way too soon for the Silver Arrows to give up on Antonelli, but he does need to start delivering, especially now that he’s behind Williams’ Alex Albon in the drivers’ championship. The team would have expected that he would be at least one place higher in the standings than he is.

Antonelli must ‘learn’ at Mercedes if he wants his situation to improve, but victories aren’t going to be on the horizon with his current car, anyway. Mercedes need to give Antonelli more guidance, according to Juan Pablo Montoya. He has been thrown in at the deep end a little bit in 2025.

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David Croft tells Mercedes to announce Kimi Antonelli for the 2026 F1 season immediately

It’s pretty clear that Mercedes must protect Antonelli if they want him to fulfil his superstar talents one day. Their belief in him has remained strong, but it’s quite easy to suggest that maybe he could have done with a year at Alpine or Williams for example, before stepping up.

Fortunately, Antonelli did exactly what Mercedes ‘want’ by battling his rivals aggressively in recent weeks, but now he needs to ensure that he doesn’t collide with them while doing so. With his confidence taking a hit, David Croft believes that Mercedes should help him and announce him for 2026 straight away.

“I wonder if maybe because of his age, or the person that Kimi is, he does dwell on the negatives a bit more than other drivers, and some of his other peers would,” he said on Sky Sports’ The F1 Show Podcast.

“If that’s the case, maybe what he actually needs is a bit of an arm around his shoulder and a confidence boost from the team, that says, ‘You’re definitely our driver for next year, don’t worry. This is a rookie year, we believe in you.’ I agree with Nico [Rosberg], he is an exceptional talent.”

READ MORE: Jacques Villeneuve tells Kimi Antonelli to make drastic behind-the-scenes Mercedes change after Dutch Grand Prix

Jacques Villeneuve accuses Kimi Antonelli of ‘getting worse’ during the 2025 season

After finishing in the top six in five of his first six races, Antonelli fall-off has been quite dramatic as the season has developed. He is yet to outqualify teammate Russell at any track that isn’t Miami, and he trails 16-0 on a Sunday, too.

Overall, it sounds like a bit of a drubbing, but he has been quite close to him on pace the majority of the time.

Now, he must find a way to translate that to beating Russell. Jacques Villeneuve said Antonelli is ‘getting worse’, but he has the talent to prove him wrong.

The rest of the Formula 1 season won’t get any easier either, as the sport leaves Europe and the tracks Antonelli might be more familiar with, to head to the flyaways.