Toto Wolff on Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes): “He’s giving us grey hairs”

Kimi Antonelli has been virtually unstoppable this season – but he still manages to keep things really exciting time and again! In Madrid, he gave his Mercedes team a real scare and caused them to turn grey with anxiety shortly before the end of the Spanish Grand Prix when he clipped the barrier just a few laps from the finish.

Antonelli was driving with real flair in Madrid. Early on in the race, the 20-year-old Italian had already gone off the track twice. Following the Virtual Safety Car on lap 15, he had already strayed too far beyond the track limits on two occasions. One more such incident would have resulted in a black-and-white flag; the next would have incurred a time penalty. Thanks to a lightning-fast reaction and seamless communication with race engineer Peter Bonnington during the Virtual Safety Car period, he had taken the lead (adjusted for pit stops). Victory was therefore on the line.

On lap 52, Antonelli radioed the team

A few laps before the end, Antonelli then made contact with the wall; he radioed his team: “I touched the wall at the entry to Turn 7” and asked them to check the car’s data. Fortunately, everything was fine, and Antonelli was able to cross the line to claim victory. The Italian keeps things exciting time and again with his turbulent and high-risk style.

Wolff’s getting grey hairs

His team principal, Toto Wolff, said after the race: “I’ve just spoken to his father about it. We immediately started joking: that’s just Kimi for you. He simply can’t manage to drive the correct lines. We’ve had to drum it into him time and again that he mustn’t drive over the white lines. Even after Monza – and he finished first at Monza, yet he still drove over the lines and sent the car into a spin. And it’s exactly the same with the track markings. At one point I said: ‘Can’t you see all that from inside the car?’ And so we had a laugh about it. And today, with six laps to go, he said: ‘Have a look at the car – I’ve crashed into the wall.’” With a laugh, Wolff said: “He’s giving us grey hairs. But maybe that’s exactly what makes him so fast.”

With his eighth win of the season, Kimi Antonelli has extended his lead in the World Championship standings. He is now 81 points ahead of his team-mate George Russell and 101 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari). He is currently well on his way to becoming the youngest F1 world champion of all time.

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