{"id":401221,"date":"2025-09-05T23:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/401221\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T23:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:42:14","slug":"too-much-too-soon-can-kimi-antonelli-cut-out-errors-at-mercedes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/401221\/","title":{"rendered":"Too much, too soon? Can Kimi Antonelli cut out errors at Mercedes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This iconic old track, known as the \u201cTemple of Speed\u201d, once held the finest of memories for Kimi Antonelli, having won the Formula 4 and Formula Regional championships here. In Formula 1, though, Monza is fast becoming a home from hell.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old Italian\u2019s intention this weekend was to have clean, trouble-free sessions, and thus \u201cput in the trash\u201d what happened a year ago, when the rookie made his Formula 1 debut in front of his home galleries. In a few seconds his burgeoning talent and his propensity to push too far were encapsulated in a single error that led to his Mercedes becoming a mangled mess.<\/p>\n

On only his fifth lap in practice, having already shown his speed, he lost control through Parabolica and hit the outer barrier. In Formula 1, mistakes are costly, in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

Not only did it scar a weekend that would go on to be his grand Mercedes unveiling, succeeding the seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, it was also a setback that has stayed with Antonelli, even after 15 races of this season.<\/p>\n

Twelve months on, all eyes were on whether Antonelli could survive the opening practice session without a repeat of last year\u2019s issues. Banishing those demons would give him confidence; he had admitted as much in the lead-up.<\/p>\n

Step one was achieved. His fifth-placed finish \u2014 despite a wheel in the gravel on one occasion, and locking up and creating a cloud of smoke on another \u2014 meant that he and his Mercedes ended the session unscathed.<\/p>\n

That could not be said for the second session on Friday evening, however. Those demons returned. He lost control through the Lesmo corners at turns six and seven, perhaps pushing too hard in the early moments, and ended up beached in the gravel. \u201cSorry about that,\u201d came the frustrated radio message to his race engineer, Peter Bonnington.<\/p>\n

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For the second time in as many weeks, Antonelli has lost valuable running time having crashed in practice sessions. In Zandvoort he was beached in the gravel, and then in the race he crashed into Charles Leclerc, eventually finishing 16th.<\/p>\n

Mercedes and Toto Wolff, the team principal, reflect that perhaps it was too much pressure to put on a teenager to unveil him in his homeland a year ago. Yet history has repeated itself.<\/p>\n

By that point last year they had already decided to throw Antonelli in at the deep end, instead of giving him another year of Formula 2 (where he finished sixth in 2024 as his Prema team struggled). They opted against signing a driver such as Carlos Sainz, who was an experienced, available option.<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s departure meant Antonelli\u2019s trajectory was pushed a year further forward than initially planned, but Mercedes believed he had enough talent to prosper. Yet the combination of raw speed and costly errors, first seen here a year ago, have been the pattern of his maiden full season.<\/p>\n

It has not followed the steady trajectory one may have expected; he impressed in Miami, before his first, and only, podium finish came in Montreal in race ten. Since then, he has had two retirements, both caused by collisions he was perceived as responsible for, two 16th-placed finishes, and one point \u2014 thanks to a tenth-place finish in Hungary. Momentum, if such a thing truly exists in F1, is not with Antonelli.<\/p>\n

\"F1<\/p>\n

Leclerc disappears into the gravel after Antonelli makes contact with him at the Dutch Grand Prix<\/p>\n

ERIC ALONSO\/DPPI\/SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n

Mercedes are unperturbed. \u201cWhen we made it clear last year in Monza that we would give him the opportunity, we were also saying that we would give him a year of learning,\u201d Wolff said after the teenager\u2019s collision with Leclerc last week. \u201cThere would be moments where we\u2019d tear our hair out, and there would be other moments of brilliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just needs to be unpeeled like an artichoke, where at the end there is the gold. My analogies are not great, but you know what I mean! It\u2019s [talent] there and we have no doubt, and in a way why we\u2019re taking it with a certain ease \u2014 we\u2019re not fighting for a world championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli will be driving for Mercedes next season regardless of what happens for the rest of this year and he continues to have the full backing of the team. They spent several months before the season even began preparing him for his rookie campaign, but the reality is that Formula 1 is still a hugely demanding sport \u2014 on and off the track.<\/p>\n

It is not necessarily Antonelli\u2019s talent that is beginning to be questioned, but instead the crushing psychological reality of being a rookie in a team as big, and high profile, as Mercedes. George Russell, Antonelli\u2019s more experienced team-mate, has found the balance of marketing and commercial demands difficult this season \u2014 indeed, The Times understands it is one of the stumbling blocks as the 27-year-old tries to negotiate a new contract \u2014 and his junior partner has the same responsibilities.<\/p>\n

That is as much, if not more demanding, than the racing itself. Rookies in the modern era are better prepared and have more support around them, but the role of being a Formula 1 driver has become more difficult, both from a fitness standpoint and a psychological one.<\/p>\n

Antonelli looked close to tears in Spa as he spoke to the media after qualifying in 18th, a reminder that the teenager is making these mistakes under the glare of millions. Mercedes insist he has maintained his confidence, but each mistake undoubtedly chips away at it.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen has said that Antonelli \u201creminds me of myself\u201d in his opening season in 2015 with Toro Rosso. At Mercedes, there was no junior team to place Antonelli in.<\/p>\n

And so, for now, he apologises \u2014 to Leclerc and Ferrari last week, his race engineer this week \u2014 for a situation that is not entirely of his own making. Time will tell if these are simply growing pains on the journey to stardom or more terminal failures.<\/p>\n

On Saturday he will return to this blisteringly quick track, knowing its unforgiving margins, and the increasing noise around whether this was all too much, too soon. All the Mercedes support in the world cannot protect him from that.<\/p>\n

Ten more years of Monaco<\/p>\n

The Monaco Grand Prix has extended its contract with Formula 1 until the 2035 season. That represents a four-year extension from the previous deal which was set to expire in 2031.<\/p>\n

In recent years, much of the discussion around the grands prix has been dominated by complaints of processional races due to the size of modern F1 cars, but it remains one of the most iconic and historic events on the calendar, and is a unique spectacle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This iconic old track, known as the \u201cTemple of Speed\u201d, once held the finest of memories for Kimi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-401221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115154343986751841","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}