Wolff warns against Antonelli title hype

Toto Wolff says Kimi Antonelli needs the space to develop as a young driver and doesn’t want the Italian facing the pressure of a title battle, after his first victory in the Chinese Grand Prix.

Antonelli became Formula 1’s youngest ever polesitter in Shanghai and duly converted that into victory on Sunday, leading home a Mercedes one-two. With one win apiece for him and teammate George Russell, Antonelli is just four points off the championship lead, but Wolff says it’s not healthy for the 19-year-old’s development to talk about title fights so early.

“You can kind of see the hype that is going to start now, especially in Italy,” Wolff said. “I see the headlines already, 'World Champion’, ‘Grande Kimi’ or whatever, and that's really not good, because those mistakes are going to come, and he's just a kid.

“So it's too early to even think about a championship. We have a good car that at this stage is capable of winning – let’s see what kind of political knives are going to come out in the next few weeks and months, but at the moment, it's a car that is capable of winning.

“Both have equal opportunity. But it's so long to talk about winning championships, and I think as a young person, he just needs the maturity to grow. And he has a fantastic driver as a team-mate, who is eight years longer in that sport.”

Despite the potential for an internal battle between the Mercedes drivers this season, Wolff is at least expecting a different dynamic between Antonelli and Russell compared to the last pair who fought each other for the title at Mercedes, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

“Yes, that is completely different,” he said. “Nico and Lewis knew each other from karting, from the early days, being friends, but also having this social fight that was always ingrained in there. And then what was a friendship then became a rivalry, and then animosity, and it was two very different characters.

“But having said that, you just need to appreciate that the drivers are here and are like they are in order to win races and championships. And the moment you sniff that, obviously then the elbows come out. That's something that the team needs to manage.

“But both of them are Mercedes juniors. We've been responsible for their trajectory since they've come into single-seaters, Kimi even in karting. So I feel at this stage – and maybe I'm going to bite my tongue one day – I feel that we're in a totally different situation."