{"id":465109,"date":"2025-10-01T06:48:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T06:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/465109\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T06:48:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T06:48:13","slug":"toto-wolff-hits-out-at-the-complete-nonsense-rumour-hes-heard-about-kimi-antonelli-at-mercedes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/465109\/","title":{"rendered":"Toto Wolff hits out at the complete ‘nonsense’ rumour he’s heard about Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kimi Antonelli\u2019s new Mercedes contract still hasn\u2019t been officially confirmed. But Toto Wolff\u2019s commitment to his 18-year-old starlet hasn\u2019t wavered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Antonelli<\/a> started his rookie season in promising fashion, scoring his first pole (albeit in a Sprint) and first podium in the space of his first 10 races. But he rather lost his way thereafter.<\/p>\n

In a six-race run either side of the summer break, Antonelli only scored three points, which saw him lose touch with F1\u2019s other top drivers and fall below Williams\u2019 Alex Albon. But the 18-year-old finally managed to string together a clean weekend in Azerbaijan as he delivered a much-needed fourth place.<\/p>\n\nPERIOD<\/strong><\/td>\nPOINTS<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nFirst 10 races<\/td>\n63<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nNext six races<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nAzerbaijan GP<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

A points breakdown for Kimi Antonelli\u2019s rookie season at Mercedes<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t totally convinced the world of F1 that he was ready for a challenge of this magnitude, though. Some feel Wolff<\/a> rather rushed the teenager\u2019s arc in response to Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari, and that he would have been better served joining a midfield team on loan.<\/p>\n

Toto Wolff rubbishes reports Kimi Antonelli could join Williams or Alpine<\/p>\n

Mercedes<\/a> have a degree of influence over multiple teams through their role as an engine supplier. This facilitated George Russell\u2019s three-season spell at Williams between 2019 and 2021. <\/p>\n

A recent report claimed Mercedes hadn\u2019t ruled out sending Antonelli to Williams<\/a> for his second season in a swap deal for Carlos Sainz. That would have been an admission that he still needed to develop, and that the Silver Arrows needed a more consistent scorer.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, there was talk that Wolff could loan Antonelli to Alpine<\/a> if he managed to sign Max Verstappen. Flavio Briatore\u2019s squad will join the roster of Mercedes-powered teams next season. <\/p>\n

However, speaking to Sky Italy<\/a>, Wolff emphatically confirmed that Antonelli would be staying put for 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Alpine and Williams speculations are completely nonsense,\u201d he said. \u201cHe will stay here in 2026 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Russell\u2019s demand in Mercedes talks is damning for Kimi Antonelli<\/p>\n

One journalist believes Antonelli has \u2018effectively\u2019 signed his 2026 deal already<\/a>. Wolff has indicated that there won\u2019t be a bells-and-whistles announcement, and it\u2019s possible that the team can simply activate an extension clause in his contract.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting, of course, that Russell hasn\u2019t been confirmed as a 2026 Mercedes driver either. That\u2019s despite winning a race and scoring seven podiums in an outstanding season. <\/p>\n

Russell apparently wants an Antonelli \u2018clause\u2019<\/a> in his new deal, whereby he\u2019ll be guaranteed a seat if he outperforms the Italian by a certain margin. Accounting for all competitive sessions where both drivers have been classified, he leads the head-to-head 32-3.<\/p>\n

Wolff will expect Antonelli to make a second-year leap and challenge his teammate much more regularly. If he doesn\u2019t, then doubts could start to set in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kimi Antonelli\u2019s new Mercedes contract still hasn\u2019t been officially confirmed. But Toto Wolff\u2019s commitment to his 18-year-old starlet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[13328,4199,707,4200,4859,79,14319,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-465109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-mercedes","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-toto-wolff","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115297576833575031","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465109","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=465109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}