Kimi Antonelli reveals Toto Wolff crisis meeting over Mercedes F1 future

Mercedes

Kimi Antonelli reveals Toto Wolff crisis meeting over Mercedes F1 future

Antonelli went through a rough patch in his rookie F1 season.

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Wednesday 17 December 2025 09:57

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F1 star Kimi Antonelli has shared how Mercedes crisis talks helped to 'reset' his mental state after going through a rough patch in his rookie campaign.

The Italian teenager had unbelievably big shoes to fill when he headed to Mercedes at the start of 2025 thanks to the exit of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton leaving a vacant seat at the Silver Arrows.

And Antonelli was not billed as your average F1 rookie. Prior to his appearance at the 2025 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had spoken highly of him, practically labelling him as the future of the team.

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To make matters worse on the weekend that his signing was confirmed last year, Antonelli crashed when replacing Hamilton at his home circuit in Monza during FP1 at the 2024 Italian GP.

This didn't impact Wolff's belief in the young driver however, and Antonelli was announced as George Russell's new F1 team-mate that same weekend.

However, fast-forward to the 2025 Italian GP and Antonelli suffered yet another embarrassment in front of his home crowd.

Mercedes post-Italian GP talks saved Antonelli from F1 slump

Things started well for the Mercedes rookie in 2025 and he even made history as the youngest-ever pole-sitter of all race formats after claiming the Miami GP sprint pole position.

But when the European leg of the championship came around, he suffered badly in form just as rumours of Wolff's interest in signing Max Verstappen were persisting.

Antonelli's confidence took a serious hit and this wasn't helped by his team principal labelling his performance at the Italian GP as 'underwhelming'.

The Italian struggled at his home race, spinning out in FP2, qualifying in P7 and then dropping two places in the main event to finish ninth.

But now, the 19-year-old has shared details over a meeting held by Wolff and race engineer Peter Bonnington after the Italian GP that helped him reset his approach.

Speaking to motorsport.com, Antonelli said: “During that difficult period I lost my direction a little, there was a lot of frustration, and I started thinking too much about the final result... every time I got in the car, I put a lot of pressure on myself and didn't focus on driving well.

"After Monza, there was a meeting between me, Toto and Bono and after that meeting, I told myself that I had to reset and start from scratch.

"They told me straight to my face what they thought of my performance, especially at Monza. But it was constructive criticism that I took onboard in a positive way, and that helped me reset and made me determined to say: 'OK, now things are going to change'. And they did change."

And reset he did. Thanks to the efforts of Antonelli and Russell, Mercedes leapfrogged rivals Ferrari and Red Bull and finished P2 in the constructors' standings.