Wolff: You need to give young drivers more time

Antonelli’s Canadian Grand Prix was the breakthrough moment for the Italian, ending the disappointment of the European triple-header, which saw the rookie score no points and suffer two mechanical failures, consequently falling to 7th in the drivers' standings, waning in comparison to the top six—who all boasted points across the 3 F1 races in the first European leg of the season.

The media attention following the race in Canada fell upon his seasoned teammate, George Russell, yet the performance of Antonelli is something that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Prior to the Safety Car, caused by the coming together of the McLarens, the Italian was only five seconds adrift from the Briton, and at times it seemed possible that he could finish the race in second place.

Antonelli has been ticking the right boxes at Mercedes so far, and Toto Wolff hailed him on the Hot Pursuit! Podcast: "Kimi has been in our junior program since age 11.

"You can today recognize talent—I would say from age 10, when kids start to compete in international go-karting... and Kimi has been winning throughout these categories. That’s very exceptional," he added.

Antonelli's impressive junior racing career meant he was fast-tracked into Formula 2, skipping Formula 3, and then getting into F1 after one F2 season, which put him under scrutiny from the media at times, with claims that his promotion into the top flight was premature.

However, talent aside, young F1 drivers have the challenge of managing tyres these days, with Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time F1 champion Antonelli replaced at Mercedes, saying: "Nurturing the tyres... that’s the limitation for young drivers coming up now."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff echoed such sentiments from Hamilton and said: "It's become very difficult to manage the tyres.

"It's not just about speed—how fast you can go on a single lap or over a race—but about nurturing the tyres to drive as fast as you can and at the same time not sliding and not letting them overheat, because you lose tons of lap times. And that is the limitation for young drivers coming up," he explained.

With the ever-sensitive Pirelli tyres being a key factor behind the success of drivers and teams, the focus on teaching rookie drivers tyre management has become more important than ever, with Antonelli having one of the best coaches at his side, Hamilton's ex-race engineer, Peter Bonnington.

Following up on tyre management skills, Wolff said: "A good example is Piastri, who is leading the championship. It took him a year and a half to catch up to Lando Norris. And this is the first year he has an edge on him.’’

Piastri, 10 races into his second season, fell 63 points behind teammate Lando Norris, the same gap Antonelli chases Russell by, 10 races into the 2025 season.

According to these statistics, it is not outlandish to predict that Antonelli might be giving Russell a run for his money at the Brackley-based team by the end of next season.

The Mercedes boss acknowledged the time needed by any young driver to sharpen his skills these days. He pointed out: "You probably need to look at a three-year program and say that’s the time needed for a young driver to challenge the more experienced teammates—that are also super fast.

"You need to give young drivers time. You need to accept there will be difficult weekends, underperformance—but that’s just part of how it goes," he maintained.

Yet eagle-eyed fans would notice that Antonelli is on course to meet if not exceed such expectations after claiming the Sprint Pole position at the Hard Rock Stadium Circuit in Miami back in May.

This showed his raw ability to rapidly adapt to the tough physical and mental demands of the high-octane sport that F1 has become.

The good thing for Antonelli remains that, now within Mercedes, he is in the best place to learn his trade and develop his racecraft, as he is considered the future of the eight-time constructors' champions.