Kimi Antonelli: Toto Wolff says Mercedes driver showed ‘what’s to come’ in fending off Max Verstappen in Sao Paulo GP | F1 News

Toto Wolff believes Kimi Antonelli showed an example of “what’s to come” in his career after the Italian teenager produced the best weekend of his rookie season at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Antonelli, 19, impressively qualified and finished second to championship leader Lando Norris in both the Sprint and Grand Prix formats at Interlagos, holding off a charging Max Verstappen in the closing laps of Sunday’s main race.

Antonelli was driving at the undulating Brazilian track for the first time and Wolff, Mercedes’ team principal, said: “All weekend, it was strong from the get-go. It’s good to see.

“Maybe coming to a track that he didn’t know, the expectations are maybe lower, so maybe pressure is not as high as some of the European races.

“Then, the execution was faultless at the end.

“Being able to fend off, fight off Max on a newer and softer tyre, that was really strong and a testament of what’s to come.”

Antonelli, fast-tracked into F1 aged 18 by the Silver Arrows to replace the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton after a stellar junior career, started the season well with top-six finishes in five of his first six races, before finishing on the podium for the first time with third at June’s Canadian Grand Prix.

However, Antonelli form and confidence took a hit in the races that followed over the remainder of the European season. He registered just two points over the next six events an the final race of that run – Antonelli’s home race of Monza – saw Wolff notably describe the Italian’s showing as having been “underwhelming”.

But since leaving Europe for the end-of-season flyways, on tracks where he has mostly not raced before, Antonelli’s results have picked up again, with his second place in Brazil following on from top-six finishes in Azerbaijan, Singapore and Mexico.

“I think it’s managing his own expectations. He’s so young. He’s just 19 years old,” said Wolff.

“You come to a track where you know that you’ve performed very well in the past on some of the European ones, and then you on the back foot, you have a sensational team-mate [George Russell] that is as good as it gets.

“Coming to a track that you don’t know is almost like less pressure. Your expectations are lower, everybody else’s expectations are lower. The kind of fan pressure is less than some of the European tracks and I think that plays a big role.”

And while Wolff is still expecting there to be bumps in the road in Antonelli’s development heading towards his second season, he says the growth in the rookie’s maturity is evident.

“Next year, he will come to these tracks that he knows without expecting to kill it. That’s the learning year, the year that we always expected to come with all the ups and downs,” added Wolff.

“Brazil was an up, definitely a good moment. And there will be more difficult ones.

“Let’s see the next few races. I think we’re seeing the young boy becoming a young man and then performing.”

Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 21-23, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime