Italian Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli ‘underwhelming’ at Monza, says Mercedes boss Toto Wolff

Wolff has been steadfast in his help of Antonelli, who he fast-tracked into Method 1 this yr on the age of 18 as a substitute for Lewis Hamilton, following the seven-time champion’s transfer to Ferrari.

Final weekend on the Dutch Grand Prix, Wolff successfully confirmed that each Russell and Antonelli would keep on the workforce subsequent season.

However Antonelli has had an up-and-down first season in F1.

He took pole for the dash race in Miami in Could, following that up by beating Russell in qualifying for the grand prix as nicely.

Antonelli scored a maiden podium in Canada in June, however misplaced confidence following a change within the Mercedes rear suspension design.

He mentioned he felt higher within the automotive as soon as Mercedes reverted to their earlier suspension for the Hungarian Grand Prix two occasions in the past, however has nonetheless struggled for consistency.

Antonelli made an error in crashing out with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in Zandvoort, and adopted that with one other messy race at Monza, the place along with his different incidents, he additionally spent six laps passing the Alpine of Pierre Gasly after his pit cease.

Wolff mentioned Antonelli wanted “a clear weekend”, including that meant “virtually to not carry an excessive amount of trauma of earlier errors into the subsequent session or into the subsequent weekend as a result of that’s baggage.

“You are not going to assault the nook arduous if you happen to’ve been off there earlier than and it completed your session, or perhaps you are not attacking a driver that shouldn’t be in your manner like Gasly as a result of he had this case with Leclerc.

“Kimi should not lose even a second on Gasly.”

Requested how to do that, Wolff mentioned: “Simply liberating him up. Liberating him up. You already know, he is an ideal driver. He has this unbelievable capacity and pure expertise. He is a racer. It is all there. However we have to do away with the ballast.”