Toto Wolff has labelled Kimi Antonelli’s weekend at the Italian Grand Prix as “underwhelming”, with the Mercedes boss outlining how the team can ensure that the rookie gets “rid of the ballast” before entering into the 2026 season.
Antonelli enjoyed a decent start to his first F1 campaign – which culminated in a debut podium in Canada – but has faced a more challenging run of late, having recorded two DNFs and two non-points finishes during the last six rounds.
His best result across this stretch came from a P9 at Monza, a race in which the teenager fought his way back through the field after a difficult start.
However, that charge also saw him pick up a five-second time penalty for forcing Williams’ Alex Albon onto the grass at high speed whilst battling, meaning that he dropped from eighth to ninth at the chequered flag.
There was also a tough moment for the Italian on Friday at Monza when he lost control of his W16 through Lesmo 2 and became beached in the gravel, bringing his session to an early end.
When asked after the Grand Prix how this weekend compared to Antonelli’s previous home event at Imola in May, Wolff responded: “Underwhelming this weekend, underwhelming.
“You can’t put the car in the gravel bed and then expect to be there, and all of the race was underwhelming. It doesn’t change anything on my support and confidence in his future, because I believe he’s going to be very, very, very good, but today was underwhelming.”
In terms of what the missing ingredient is for Antonelli to put together a clean weekend, Wolff suggested that the youngster has continued to be affected by occasions where he has previously made an error.
“I think a clean weekend also means almost not to carry too much trauma of previous mistakes into the next session or into the next weekend, because that is luggage,” the Team Principal explained.
“You’re not going to attack the corner hard if you’ve been off there before and it finished your session, or maybe you’re not attacking a driver that should not be in your way, like [Pierre] Gasly, because he had this situation with [Charles] Leclerc. I mean, Kimi shouldn’t lose even a second with Gasly.”
While Mercedes are yet to officially confirm their line-up for 2026, Wolff recently indicated that he would like “to stay with Kimi and George [Russell] as it stands”.
As such, the Austrian was asked what the process will be to ensure that Antonelli is where he needs to be at the start of next year’s campaign.
“I think just freeing him up, freeing him up to drive,” Wolff answered. “He’s a great driver. He has this unbelievable ability and natural talent. He’s a racer. This is all there, but we need to get rid of the ballast.”
And when pushed on how that can be done, Wolff added: “By talking.”
Reflecting more widely on how the team fared at Monza – with Russell ending the Grand Prix in fifth place – the team boss conceded that the performance was not at the level the squad had been hoping for.
“We have opted not to put so much emphasis anymore on the remaining races this year,” Wolff said when asked if Mercedes could have opted for a bespoke low drag set-up for the event.
“But, nevertheless, the track characteristics should have been a little bit more good for us, and we didn’t perform on that level that we should have.”