Mercedes has admitted that it didn’t get it proper in realising the pressures that Andrea Kimi Antonelli would face together with his first FP1 outing on residence floor at Monza.
The German producer elected at hand Antonelli his first official observe run in its automotive on the Italian Grand Prix, on the identical weekend that he was going to be introduced as a 2025 driver.
However regardless of displaying some spectacular velocity straight out of the pits, all of it went improper for Antonelli simply 10 minutes into the session as he crashed out at Parabolica after pushing too laborious too quickly.
Reflecting on the occasions of that day, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff thinks it was not an error to present Antonelli his first run at Monza beneath such circumstances, however reckons it will have been wiser in hindsight to have let him run some other place first.
“I would not say it was a mistake, however I feel we weren’t fully proper in assessing the pressures that he may discover himself beneath,” Wolff instructed Motorsport.com.
“Why that’s, is that we talked about it, and the right way to method the session. He has been good in testing. He has by no means put a single foot improper within the many 1000’s of kilometres that he is carried out.
“But it surely’s a special ball recreation for those who’re an Italian driver, you are 18 years outdated in Monza and it is your first alternative.
“Possibly if we had thought of that as a danger issue in opposition to the set of information we had from him, in all probability it will have been sensible to present him an FP1 that will have been in a very totally different time zone than Italy. However he’ll study quite a bit from that.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Toto Wolff, Crew Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG F1 Crew
Photograph by: Mercedes AMG
Whereas Antonelli’s crash was not best by way of inflicting harm to George Russell’s automotive, Wolff admitted that one among his different issues was the emotional impression that the error would have on the younger Italian on a weekend when he was beneath the highlight.
“I assumed it isn’t good for him, as a result of I assumed it is a disgrace for him,” added Wolff. “He was so fast, and that was his first session in Italy, about to be introduced as a driver, which everyone pre-empted.
“I like his method. He is quick on the primary lap out of the pits, and that’s what he is demonstrated. Clearly, I might have loved him being on the leaderboard excessive up and that was taken away as a result of the automotive flew – and a few of these speeds have been solely achieved a lot later throughout the weekend.
“Clearly he was too quick for the situation of the observe and for the automotive at that stage, so it was balancing the ambition, the motivation and the talent versus additionally the expertise that FP1 is FP1.
“I knew that that was going to harm him, that was going to harm him emotionally.”
No gamble
Mercedes is conscious that for all of Antonelli’s expertise and potential, he lacks expertise – and which means there’ll probably be extra crashes to return.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes F1 W15
Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Pictures
However Wolff thinks that growing him throughout the surroundings at Brackley is the correct method to assist get essentially the most out of him.
“I feel that the F1 group that you simply be part of as a younger driver is key in your efficiency and in your improvement,” he stated.
“That is why we determined additionally to carry him straight into Mercedes, so he could be much less polluted with one other, totally different modus operandi.
“I am not saying it is worse or higher. However I feel we need to have it the Mercedes approach with him, which implies additionally investing in this type of errors that occur. So actually we all know of the duty that we’ve got for his improvement and likewise for his outcomes.”
Requested if he thought of Mercedes has taken a raffle on selling Antonelli at this stage, Wolff stated: “No, it isn’t a raffle. It will be a raffle for those who would not consider in his functionality.
“We have to give him the time to develop. We do not anticipate, touching down in Australia [next year], and him blasting everybody. That is not the expectation.
“I feel it should not be anyone’s expectations. Give him time to develop, after which he can change into superb. However he must be given the time.”
