Toto Wolff warns Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli about ‘idiots’ in F2

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Kimi Antonelli scored his first win in Formula 2 at the British Grand Prix last weekend. Antonelli took an impressive victory in Saturday’s Sprint Race in wet conditions.

Under F2 rules, the driver who qualifies 10th for the Feature Race starts on pole as part of a reversed grid format. There are reduced points on offer, but it still presents a valuable opportunity.

Antonelli had to navigate multiple stoppages en route to victory but he built up a commanding advantage at the front. He left the weekend eighth in the championship on 59 points with six rounds to go.

The 17-year-old is trying to convince Toto Wolff that he’s ready to replace seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in 2025. Mercedes haven’t fielded a rookie since their return to F1 in 2010, which would make the task all the more daunting.

Wolff sees Antonelli as the next Charles Leclerc or Max Verstappen but is biding his time before he makes a decision on where he’ll race in 2025. There are indications that Carlos Sainz is coming back into the fray.

Antonelli’s Prema teammate Oliver Bearman has already secured his spot on the F1 grid with Haas. Bearman sits five spots further down the championship, but also has a win to his name after a Sprint triumph in Austria.

Toto Wolff warns Kimi Antonelli not to ‘qualify among the idiots’ in F2

After the highs of the Sprint, Antonelli had to retire on the first lap of the Feature Race. Invicta driver and Alpine talent Kush Maini tagged him on the exit of turn three, sending him into a spin.

Speaking to Speedweek, Wolff expressed a degree of sympathy for the young prodigy, but he still feels the incident was preventable. If Antonelli had qualified further up the grid, he would have avoided the midfield chaos.

F2 teams are getting to grips with a new specification this season, and Prema in particular have struggled. That may be why Bearman and Antonelli, perhaps the two highest-rated drivers in the field, aren’t in the championship picture.

“There was nothing he could do,” Wolff said of the tangle with Maini. “My wife Susie always says – if you qualify among the idiots, then you had to drive against the idiots.”

Everyone in the F1 paddock is asking the same question about Antonelli

Wolff insists he wasn’t surprised by Hamilton joining Ferrari, even if the news came as a major shock to the F1 world. The 39-year-old was able to opt out of the second year of his new contract.

But he didn’t admit that the timing was a little awkward. And it increasingly seems as if there was no clear succession plan in place.

Martin Brundle says the Mercedes driver search is shifting day by day right now. Antonelli boosted his prospects by winning just as Sainz was returning to the conversation.

Perhaps in an ideal world, Hamilton would have seen out his contract and then moved on. That would have given Antonelli the luxury of time – either to spend another year in F2 or, more likely, make his F1 debut further down the grid.

George Russell spent three years at Williams before he graduated to the Silver Arrows. James Vowles is considering a midseason driver change, so that door may yet open, but everyone in the F1 paddock is still wondering just how good Antonelli is.