Toto Wolff reveals what ‘scares’ him about Kimi Antonelli’s ‘brilliant start’ to the 2026 F1 season

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Toto Wolff has revealed what is worrying him about Kimi Antonelli amid the Mercedes star’s ‘brilliant’ start to the current F1 campaign.

The step up that Kimi Antonelli has made over the winter break has been immense. While he impressed during his rookie term last year by claiming multiple podium finishes, a multitude of mistakes defined the Italian’s European leg of the season.

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However, he has turned up for F1’s new era of regulations with a vengeance. After Mercedes teammate George Russell claimed victory in the season-opener, Antonelli has been utterly dominant in the Grand Prix format.

Antonelli leads Russell by 20 points in the F1 standings, which has raised some concerns within the team’s Brackley base. Team principal Toto Wolff has reportedly limited Antonelli’s contact with the Italian press following his emergence as a genuine title candidate.

• READ MORE: George Russell warned that Kimi Antonelli’s ceiling may actually be ‘a lot higher’ at Mercedes

Toto Wolff admits he is scared of Kimi Antonelli making mistakes during 2026

During a recent interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Antonelli proved to be a big topic in Wolff’s line of questioning. One of the questions the Austrian executive fielded concerned when he thinks Antonelli’s first mistakes of 2026 will appear.

At the most recent race weekend in Miami, Wolff noted Antonelli’s overconfidence in the Sprint race, which led to the Italian driver making a multitude of mistakes.

The 19-year-old finished P4 at the chequered flag, but a five-second penalty saw him drop down to P6 in the final classification. Wolff later admitted that he was close to intervening over the team radio as Antonelli racked up track limits warnings.

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In response to the question from the Italian outlet, the Mercedes team principal replied, “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 the public to start saying, ‘Oh, what’s going on? Did we get it wrong about him?’ It will all be part of the learning process that we, as a team, are ready for, but the public reaction, especially in Italy, worries us a bit.

“We all want Kimi to become one of the greats of F1, but it’s only the beginning, and we must treat him like a diamond in the rough. The media, the fans, and even we in the team must make this effort.”

• READ MORE: F1 paddock thinks Kimi Antonelli can ‘write history’ after change in the Mercedes driver’s attitude

Toto Wolff admits he did not expect Kimi Antonelli’s recent form in F1

After highlighting the need to keep enthusiasm in check, Wolff was also asked whether it is safe to say that Antonelli has surprised everybody this season.

Of course, as the replacement for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton at the works Mercedes team, there was bound to be a lot of pressure riding on the 19-year-old’s shoulders, which is something the team were fully aware of last year.

The 54-year-old wholeheartedly agreed, replying, “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.

“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.”