Toto Wolff makes wild ‘5 MINUTES’ claim over replacing Lewis Hamilton with Kimi Antonelli
Kimi Antonelli was on Mercedes' radar since the start of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Kimi Antonelli, Toto Wolff, and Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has spoken about choosing Andrea Kimi Antonelli as their driver for 2025. The latter has been selected as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton, who is set to depart for Ferrari.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been on the radar of the Silver Arrows since the start of the season. The youngster’s pace and prowess, despite being only 18 years old, have caught the eyes of many.
Toto Wolff has thereafter admitted to noticing the Italian’s talent from the very start. Wolff said that Kimi Antonelli always remained one of the prime prospects amongst others as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton.
I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me that he's going to Ferrari. Obviously, we were discussing other options, and also kept the Max idea. We didn't discount it completely with looking at what happened at Red Bull, but instinctively, that is the line-up with these two that I always wanted. Bearing in mind the fast-tracking that we did with Kimi and everything related there too, but that was immediately what I wanted to do.Toto Wolff said via motorsport
Kimi Antonelli now faces the daunting task of filling Hamilton’s shoes on the German team in 2025. He will have to train extremely hard in preparing himself for a stellar debut with the team in Australia in the coming season.
Toto Wolff urges Mercedes to perform better in Monza compared to Zandvoort
Mercedes finished P7 and P8 during the Dutch Grand Prix after a vaguely clueless run at Zandvoort last Sunday. Toto Wolff has since reiterated the need for his team to deliver handsome results at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Yeah, you can see how quickly it goes. We won three out of four races, and then the last one was really bad, and we finished seventh and eighth, and I think it's continuing this positive trajectory, and then trying to avoid the mistakes that we made in Zandvoort.Toto Wolff said in an interview with Nico Rosberg after FP3 at Monza
Toto Wolff: Yeah, you can see how quickly it goes. We won three out of four races, and then the last one was really bad, and we finished seventh and eighth, and I think it's continuing this positive trajectory, and then trying to avoid the mistakes that we made in Zandvoort.
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) August 31, 2024
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Wolff talked of the team’s unexpected result at Zandvoort despite winning three of the last four races before that. He then urged the Silver Arrows to not repeat the same mistakes of the Dutch GP this weekend as well.
Lewis Hamilton topped the lap times in the FP2 and FP3 sessions of the Italian GP, which will be a positive sign for the team. Going forward, they will want to carry forward this momentum to obtain a good grid spot from qualifying for Sunday.
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