Antonelli, the baby champion who also amazes Wolff: “Two victories in three GPs? No, I didn’t expect it”

The world at the feet of Kimi Toto Wolff enjoys the historic championship lead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, fresh from two consecutive victories between Shanghai and Suzuka. And if it is undeniable that on both occasions good fortune partly favored the success of the young Italian driver – in China, Russell ended up knocked out due to a problem in qualifying when he seemed to be headed towards pole, in Japan the Safety Car which came onto the track at the right time undeniably helped him in his comeback after the terrible start from first place on the grid – raise your hand if you would have bet even just one euro on such a solid and mature performance after just three races since the start of the second season among the greats. Perhaps not even Wolff himself, who however has always been almost a putative father of the 19-year-old from Bologna, and who defied the criticism of the press and fans by choosing in 2025 to replace the legend Lewis Hamilton with a very young debutant. After the Suzuka race, the team principal said he didn’t want to hear anything even remotely about the possibility of Antonelli winning the title, between regulation changes, technical developments and the new compression ratio verification system, but also considering the greater experience of George Russell who sooner or later will also come to the fore in the internal comparison in the Mercedes garage. But, on the other hand, he didn’t even deny the surprise of having to comment on his pupil’s leadership in the F1 standings. Thus Antonelli also surprised Wolff “I think that, when we decided to give him a seat – explains Toto Wolff speaking of Kimi Antonelli – a year and a half ago, we all hoped that he could set himself on this winning trajectory, even considering the ups and downs that can be expected from an 18-year-old driver in his first season in Formula 1. We hoped that it would be precisely in the second year that success would materialise, and that is how it is actually going. But, apart from that, if you ask me if I had ever expected two victories in the first three races with Kimi, well the answer is no, but he was fast when he needed to be.” “And of course, luck was on his side, but I also believe that everything else, overall, determined Antonelli’s second consecutive victory,” concludes Toto Wolff.