Toto Wolff will ‘almost certainly’ take one Kimi Antonelli measure to keep a Mercedes seat open for Max Verstappen

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Mercedes are still yet to announce their two drivers for the 2026 Formula 1 season, but a decision is close.

It’s unusual for a top team to have two seats open heading into the summer break, but Mercedes have been reluctant to renew either of their drivers. The possibility of Max Verstappen being available prevented team boss Toto Wolff from tying anyone down in the immediate future.

George Russell has led the team well and done more than enough to earn a new deal, but he doesn’t have the best relationship with Verstappen, so pairing the two together could have been explosive. Kimi Antonelli also hasn’t had the best of rookie seasons and might need more time to develop.

Mercedes think Antonelli has been ‘not as competitive’ recently, due to a dip in their development. However, with Verstappen’s new Red Bull agreement, he might find some more confidence in having one less competitor for his seat heading into the 2026 F1 regulations.

READ MORE: People in the F1 paddock are now preparing for Mercedes to make long-awaited driver announcement

Toto Wolff will ‘almost certainly’ give Kimi Antonelli one-year Mercedes deals to keep Max Verstappen door open

Antonelli lost ‘confidence’ at the Belgian Grand Prix and suffered another challenging weekend, by failing to score any points for the Silver Arrows. It marks the sixth time in the last seven races that the Italian driver has failed to score any points in a weekend.

Ralf Schumacher would send Antonelli to Alpine, who have a vacancy alongside the experienced Pierre Gasly for 2026. With Mercedes engines in the back of their car, a deal could be struck for a driver, considering they have solid relations already.

The Race’s Jon Noble now reports that Mercedes boss Wolff is ‘almost certainly’ going to concentrate on a short-term deal for at least one of his drivers. Considering his recent performance, there’s a strong possibility it could be Antonelli.

“Mercedes boss Wolff is almost certainly going to want to keep his options open for 2027, knowing that Verstappen could be on the market for then, which may make him reluctant to tie both his drivers into long-term deals,” he said.

“That means potentially keeping some flexibility with Antonelli, to have him on a year-by-year contract, plus perhaps give Russell a one-plus-one deal.”

Why Kimi Antonelli’s recent Formula 1 form isn’t all down to himself

Of Antonelli’s six scoreless events from the last seven weekends, four have ended with retirements as a result of Mercedes’ worrying reliability.

Their power unit has been far from bullet-proof, and they have not had a very quick car when it has managed to go the full distance.

Take the Monaco Grand Prix for example, where Antonelli spent most of the race outside of the top 10 due to a poor strategy and setup. There was little he could do.

For a team that was so dominant just a few years ago, they need to be doing better to give their rookie a better chance to stand out, because currently, they’re not doing him too many favours.