"It needs to be conditioned": Toto Wolff presses on the need to nurture Kimi Antonelli’s talent and potential

Mercedes honcho Toto Wolff recently talked about Kimi Antonelli's talent and how it should be nurtured. The Italian F2 driver will join the eight-time champions in 2025 and drive alongside George Russell.

At the Italian GP, Mercedes junior Antonelli was given a golden opportunity to debut in F1 in front of his home crowd. He participated in FP1 at Monza, driving Russell's car. After clocking an extremely fast flying lap at the start of the session, he lost control of the car at the Parabolica turn and crashed into the barriers, bringing out the red flag.

Despite his crash, the Mercedes seniors were impressed with his raw pace and decided to give him the seat for the 2025 F1 season. Antonelli will now replace seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, as he moves to Ferrari next year.

Speaking about his first few laps at the Italian GP FP1 session, Wolff told F1.com that Kimi Antonelli was the quickest. He then praised the youngster's level of talent and talked about how a team takes risks whenever it invests and teaches a junior driver how to compete in higher levels of the sport.

“I think they [Kimi Antonelli's camp] were the quickest in the session of everyone’s first flying laps by far. There are some good indications that he has a lot of talent and a lot of potential, and now it needs to be conditioned. When you invest in young drivers, these things happen. You need to be prepared to take that risk,” Wolff said.

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Toto Wolff on the difficulties Kimi Antonelli could face in F1 in the future

After Mercedes announced Kimi Antonelli in their 2025 roster, Toto Wolff talked about how the Italian would face issues early on and that the team needs to protect him from the ruthlessness of the sport.

Speaking to F1.com, Wolff initially praised Antonelli's skills and stated that his team will give the youngster space to grow. The Austrian billionaire admits that the rookie will face criticism and difficulties early in his F1 career, but speculates that he will soon become a championship-worthy driver.

“There is no doubt he has the talent, the ability, the skills – and now it’s about allowing him space to grow up within this crazy tough ruthless environment and we will protect him and allow him to grow. We expect difficult moments. People will doubt. We will see highlights also. Kimi will be the real deal in a while, maybe not yet,” Wolff said.

As for now, Kimi Antonelli will complete his first F2 Championship season with Prema Racing. He races alongside Ferrari junior driver, Oliver Bearman, who will also join F1 in 2025 with Haas.