Parc Ferme: Toto Wolff’s “Agonelli” over not so quick

If you can’t win the Formula 1 World Championship for Ferrari, taking the Monaco and Italian Grands Prix makes a soothing balm for that wound.

However, while the “Old Renard” Vasseur was celebrating with the whole of Italy, back in the Mercedes garage, Toto Wolff must have been reflecting on a rather disastrous driver-centric weekend. Neither of his A-team drivers delivered on their qualifying promise.

Lewis Hamilton rued a missed opportunity to get pole. Fortunately, he avoided trouble in the race and held onto his qualifying position plus one to mop up some points. Meanwhile, George Russell drove backwards, again. His “off” at the start of the race was somewhat of a schoolboy error. He should have anticipated Oscar Piastri’s move to cover Lando Norris’ six. Instead, he locked up and went straight on, with wing damage adding to the ignominy.

To be fair, I don’t think the W15 was a race-winning car in Italy. There was plenty of sandbagging going on in the lead-up to qualifying, particularly by McLaren. On a positive note, Russell did put in an exemplary qualifying lap, punching above the car’s weight.

However, Mercedes’ driver-based agony had already begun earlier in the weekend. You know what I’m talking about; the much-touted Wolff wunderkind – Andrea “lots of names” Antonelli. FP1 was no doubt meant to be the showcase justification for his replacing Lewis Hamilton in 2025.

Unfortunately, it proved the opposite. Antonelli displayed the kind of poor judgement one would expect from an eighteen-year-old suddenly thrust into the cauldron of F1. Net result: trashed car.

The rubbish that then followed trying to justify this was laughable. It culminated in Wolff’s explanation that “what he did, the car couldn’t take”.

Really? My memory is a little hazy, but I thought the best drivers drove up to the car's limit, not over it, whilst keeping it on the track. Given it was the opening minutes of FP1, his first drive in the real thing, on a track with new asphalt and profiled corners; I think it’s fair to presume the smart move would have been to acclimatize first.

The blame here falls squarely on the team, and as team principal, on Toto. Some might say he was unlucky, but luck had nothing to do with it. Faced with the team's constant ramping of his reputation, he no doubt felt compelled to deliver a performance that matched it.

Further evidence to this effect was his performance at the start of the F2 Sprint Race the following day. Locking up going into Turn 1, he practically mirrored Russell’s fate for the following day.

The kid is undoubtedly super talented, but if someone doesn’t halt the hyperbole PR, we may never see what he’s truly capable of. I fear he will be mentally destroyed trying to clear a bar set unrealistically high. A bar set by the team’s need to justify their decisions!

Finally, to add insult to Toto’s injuries, one of his acolytes dissed and dismissed Mick “not so quick” Schumacher. This was Williams Team Principal James Vowles of course, who was guilty of describing Mick as “good but not special”. A characterization that most in the pit lane would agree with and kinder than any of Guenther Steiner’s assessments.

Instead, he chose to take the Franco Colapinto money rather than open the Schumacher box. Hardly unreasonable. I can only presume that Toto’s anger was more about the weekend’s frustration and the likely roasting he received at the hands of Mick’s mother for not keeping his people on script.