Following a successful 2026 Japanese Grand Prix for his young driver Kimi Antonelli, Toto Wolff was in high spirits as he discussed the meteoric rise of the Italian sensation. Talking with Sky Sports F1, the Austrian jokingly accepted the title of “genius” from pundit Natalie Pinkham.
When reminded of Antonelli’s surprisingly steep trajectory at such a young age, the Mercedes chief reflected on the now two-time race winner visiting the team’s factory as a junior driver.
“You see how quickly it goes and how quickly we age also no?” he laughed when asked about watching the rapid ascension of his driver. “Because that seemed like it was years ago when he was a kid. When he came into the office he met James Allison and James Allison thought it was a kid who lost his parents and was looking for someone.
“And it’s incredible. Yesterday he was 14, today he’s 19, he’s winning two races in a row in Formula 1, and we are really happy about the development that he’s taking.”
When Pinkham playfully suggested that Antonelli’s immense success made the team principal look like a genius, Wolff was quick to react with modesty, asking if they could inform his wife, Susie Wolff, of this compliment.
“Of course, yeah. Of course,” he laughed. “Can you tell Susie? She doesn’t always believe that.”
Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
He immediately threw focus towards his team, who he credited with developing the 19-year-old. He detailed the extensive network of support that has helped Antonelli grow into the performer they saw this weekend.
“The truth is, we as a team starting from Gwen, who runs our junior programme, who spotted him when he was 11 to the whole team, the engineers that gave him the opportunity, the marketing people that have been looking at him and protecting him…
“That’s another factor now. We need to protect him from people talking about world championships. All of us, it’s a joint effort to have two junior drivers in the lead of this championship.”
Despite a poor start, Antonelli was able to leverage the opportunities given to him while his team-mate George Russell was caught out by the safety car.
“No, I thought ‘not again’,” Wolff said on the start that saw Antonelli drop to sixth behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. “Because obviously we’re not giving them the easiest of tools, our starts have generally been a bit on the mediocre side, and we need to improve that.
“But in that case, the driver had massive influence on that car not going away. Looked good with the wheel spin, but isn’t fast.
“But then in the race, he made his way up, and obviously, it was at the moment where it mattered he was really fast and we were able to extend his stint by that one lap, and that caused George’s race to go belly up, and made the difference.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Team
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
