Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff knew 'little gem' Kimi Antonelli would be world champion

Mercedes

Toto Wolff knew 'little gem' Kimi Antonelli would be world champion

How Toto Wolff knew Kimi Antonelli was special

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 29 May 2026 18:57

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An insider, who has spoken to Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff, has revealed just how long the chief has been hyping up Kimi Antonelli's championship winning potential.

Antonelli was ushered into F1 quite suddenly for a junior driver, having bypassed Formula 3 entirely and finishing the 2024 Formula 2 championship in sixth.

Having endured a rocky European part of the 2025 campaign, there were question marks over whether Antonelli had been promoted too soon. But Wolff retained confidence in his young driver and the Italian's performances began to improve by the close of the year.

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Now, Antonelli sits 43 points ahead of team-mate George Russell, after claiming four consecutive victories in the past four rounds, with the Brit claiming it's 'his championship to lose'.

Wolff: Antonelli will become a great champion

While Antonelli was certainly aided by Russell's DNF to earn such a huge deficit in the drivers' standings, the youngster has nonetheless started to live up to the hype surrounding him throughout his junior career.

In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italian entrepreneur Brunello Cucinelli talked all things sport, and revealed a conversation he had with Wolff about young Antonelli.

First, Cucinelli outlined Wolff's difficulties with pasta, and explained: "I have a wonderful relationship with Toto Wolff: he loves pasta, but it's bad for him, so I send him pasta made with more refined grains."

He then added how long Wolff has been celebrating Antonelli as a future world champion, and added: "Already five or six years ago, he was telling me: 'I have a little gem in my hands, he'll become a great champion.'

"He [Wolff] has another great quality: he's always joking and laughing. As long as they don't make him angry."

F1 Mercedes Toto Wolff