Antonelli's pace 'astonishing' before crash, says Wolff
In a stunning debut that ended prematurely, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff lauded Andrea Kimi Antonelli's exceptional pace during his brief stint in the first practice session of the Italian Grand Prix. The 18-year-old sensation, who is on the brink of replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season, showcased an "astonishing" performance despite crashing after just five laps.
Antonelli, currently competing in Formula 2, took over George Russell's car for the session but lost control at Parabolica, resulting in a dramatic impact into the barriers measured at 52Gs.
"Most importantly, he is OK because the crash was 52G. So that's important," Wolff said, emphasizing Antonelli's safety. "It's unfortunate because we had an hour's running and would have seen some good performances. But that's what we all said – he's a rookie, he's very young."
Wolff reassured that the incident would have "zero effect" on Antonelli's future with Mercedes, stressing the remarkable speed he displayed in his limited time on the track. "We'd rather have a problem in slowing him down than making him faster. What we saw from 1½ laps was astonishing."
In a post-qualifying video message, Antonelli expressed his remorse and discussed the physical impact of the crash. "First FP1 done, but unfortunately it ended quite quickly because of the crash," he said. "It was quite a big one, around 52Gs. Really sorry for the team and George for making them work afterwards. Just a mistake on my side, pushing a bit too much for the conditions. I should have built the run up more progressively, but definitely lesson learned for next time."
The young driver appeared optimistic despite the setback, thanking his team and the supporters. "Not feeling super well at the moment. Just going to go back and try to rest and try to focus for the rest of the weekend because there's still some races to go and we're still going to try and get a good result."
Wolff acknowledged the technical challenges that contributed to the crash. "Everyone was suffering with lots of temperature, especially rear temperature out of Ascari doing these kinds of speeds. And this is why the rear stepped out."
Fast-tracked through the junior formulas, Antonelli has bypassed Formula 3 to move directly from Formula Regional to Formula 2 this year. When questioned about the pressure on the young prodigy, Wolff was confident in Antonelli's capabilities. "In our industry, we perfectly understand who is capable and not. It has been a while that an Italian driver was in a top team. So I'm sure that this can be a lot for an 18-year-old."
Wolff added, "He needs to swim. And these days that are so difficult, like it is for him at the moment, it feels certainly terrible. But that's part of the development curve. What we see is, there's performance. And we've even seen that in the few laps that we've seen, but what he tried to do, the car can't take."
As Antonelli continues to evolve under the watchful eyes of Mercedes, his brief yet impressive display at Monza suggests a promising future awaits in Formula 1.
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