Toto Wolff declares Kimi Antonelli has “all the talent” to succeed in F1

Toto Wolff believes that Kimi Antonelli possesses the talent required to succeed with Mercedes in the 2025 season.

Toto Wolff declares Kimi Antonelli has “all the talent” to succeed in F1

Kimi Antonelli and Toto Wolff (via Planetf1)

Kimi Antonelli is all set to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the 2025 season and get up to speed from the get-go. The German carmaker has banked great hopes on the 18-year-old to score positive results. With the pre-season test nearing, Team Principal Toto Wolff raised confidence in Antonelli’s chances to succeed in the coming season.

Kimi Antonelli will remain the secondary driver to ‘lead’ George Russell and take in multiple learnings from the latter. Antonelli’s F1 debut during a practice session turned out woeful after he crashed the chassis. Due to this, Toto Wolff had already called out the team to ‘minimize expectations’ on the 18-year-old in his rookie season.

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Wolff highlights that Antonelli possesses the talent required to achieve great results in his first season. However, the Austrian accepted that the 18-year-old might face some ups and downs throughout the year. Regardless, the 53-year-old looks forward to facing the journey with the rookie and helping the latter grow further.

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Kimi has all the talent necessary to achieve great results at the top of this sport, but this is a season for the beginning and there will inevitably be ups and downs. We look forward to facing this journey together and helping it grow throughout the year.

Toto Wolff told formulapassion.

Toto Wolff anticipates an ‘even tighter’ competition in the 2025 season

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton put forth an extremely tight battle in the 2024 season against one another. Although the team couldn’t contend for either of the championships, the Silver Arrows tried their best to maximize results.

Toto Wolff, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli (via Formula1.com)
Toto Wolff, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli (via Formula1.com)

With the refreshed drivers lineup, Toto Wolff anticipates and even more tighter competition this year. The 53-year-old also laid out Mercedes’ goal to give it their all to fight for both championships.

It will be a very tight season and last year we saw how much the World Cup was fought for. You couldn’t tell from one race to another who would be in the lead, and I expect that this year the fight will be even tighter. We will have to give our best if we want to compete for the championship this season.

Toto Wolff noted

Mercedes’ suffered from a rollercoaster of performance in the 2024 season despite scoring some coveted race wins. The team has already revealed the W16 challenger and is now finalizing the chassis ahead of the pre-season test. Brackley could emerge as the title favorite in the final edition of the ground-effect era depending on their development through the 2025 season.