“In difficult moments I ask him for advice”: Mercedes prodigy Kimi Antonelli details his relationship with Toto Wolff

Mercedes-AMG are reportedly considering Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton's replacement for the 2025 season. During a recent interview with Motorsport.com, the young Italian driver opened about about his relationship with team principal Toto Wolff.

The arrival of Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes-AMG was a defining moment in Formula 1's turbo-hybrid era. The duo managed to dominate the motorsport from 2014 to 2021, with the German outfit winning eight consecutive constructors' titles and the Briton winning six drivers' titles. With the 38-year-old set to exit the team, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has the massive task of finding Hamilton's replacement for next year.

Luckily, their junior team has provided them with the possible answer in the form of the reigning Formula Regional European champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The 18-year-old shared his views about his impending debut in F1 as well as his relationship with Wolff to Motorsport.com.

“Some degree of worry I think is always there, the prospect of not being able to perform I think frightens everyone. My approach is to see it as a great opportunity to learn, grow and also enjoy the moment,” the Prema Racing's F2 driver said, explaining his approach to F1.

"I am also very happy with the relationship I have [with Wolff]. In difficult moments I ask him for advice and he always looks for a way to give me confidence. I’ll give you an example. After the disappointing qualifying in Silverstone I called him because it was a bit of a tough time. We talked a lot and that conversation gave me back my confidence, and the next day I won," He added, elaborating his rapport with the Mercedes team principal.

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"An F1 car gives you a lot of confidence," Kimi Antonelli shared his experience testing Mercedes-AMG's F1 car

Mercedes Junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli took part in a two-day F1 testing program in April this year. The young Formula 2 driver was left impressed with how an F1 race car handles.

The test program took part at the iconic Red Bull Ring in Austria. It included the 2021 Mercedes W12 and the 2022-spec W13 cars. The event was designed to provide first-hand experience of Formula 1 cars to Antonelli, as well as monitor his progress driving the vehicles.

"An F1 car gives you a lot of confidence, and one difficulty I ran into was finding the limit. Every time I ask for a bit more, the car gives it to me. The moment will come when I will understand that there is nothing more to squeeze out, that will be the limit, but it is a very narrow window," Antonelli commented, explaining the dynamics of the car.

Apart from the driving part, the young Italian driver was also surprised by the amount of engineers and team members required for running a Formula 1 car. Antonelli was also overwhelmed by the amount of information demanded by the engineers after each session.