Kimi? Andrea? Antonelli? How to tell when Toto Wolff is angry

Mercedes

Kimi? Andrea? Antonelli? How to tell when Toto Wolff is angry

Toto Wolff has a tell...and Kimi Antonelli knows it

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 20 July 2025 14:54

Toto Wolff doesn’t always smash a table if he's angry with one of his F1 drivers. In fact, a Mercedes star has a different method to deduce the subtle emotions of the Austrian.

Antonelli’s rookie F1 season has been characterised by some impressive highs and embarrassing lows, as he gets to grips with the W16 at the tender age of 18.

Since securing a maiden F1 podium at the Canadian Grand Prix, Antonelli has failed to finish a race, and at the Red Bull Ring he crashed into four-time world champion Max Verstappen on the opening lap. In conversation with Italian publication Corriere della Sera, Antonelli revealed what his boss Wolff calls him when he’s performed well and when he has performed badly - providing fans with the perfect game to play when they next watch Wolff on the broadcast!

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"When I'm doing well Kimi, when I'm doing less well Andrea, when I'm doing badly he calls me Antonelli," he explained.

Overall, however, Antonelli waxed lyrical about the team principal, and hailed the support Wolff has given him throughout his motorsport career.

"I met Toto in 2018, he made me join the Academy, and with him I grew up, in these years I was lucky to discover him also off the track. I am happy to have found a guide, along with many other very important people in the team who have helped me."

Toto Wolff has ushered Kimi Antonelli through the junior ranks

Wolff defends Antonelli

Despite a high-profile crash for Antonelli at the recent Austrian GP, Wolff defended his driver and deemed the mistake as a natural learning curve in a rookie season.

"These mistakes happen," he said to the media after the race.

"Yeah, he came into the garage quickly. I said, ‘Well, that wasn’t great’, which he obviously knew, but he said the tyres just locked and we need to analyse that.

"It’s a shame that Max, that we took another car out with us, but that can happen to the great ones, to the inexperienced ones, to the experienced ones - it’s just part of F1."

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