Toto Wolff says Mercedes need to protect Kimi Antonelli from people talking about Formula 1 Championship

Antonelli took his second consecutive F1 victory in the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday at Suzuka after starting the race from pole position.

While the Italian dropped down the order at the start of the race, he managed to keep a cool head and made his way up the order, making use of a Safety Car period, following Oliver Bearman's crash, to take his second win in the top flight.

Following a challenging rookie season in 2025, Antonelli has been a revelation so far in 2026, with talks about his chances of fighting for the Title being inevitable.

"It seemed like years ago when he was a kid," Wolff said after the race at Suzuka. "He met [Mercedes technical director] James Allison, who thought it was a kid who lost his parents and was looking for someone.

"It's incredible. Yesterday, he was 14, and today he is 19. He's won two races in a row in F1, and we are really happy about the development that he's taken.

"We need to protect him now from people talking about World Championships," the Austrian insisted.

While Antonelli enjoyed a strong weekend at Suzuka, where he had great pace all weekend, George Russell, the one who thought an F1 Title in 2026 was a given, struggled.

He was never able to get the setup of his W17 right in qualifying, which meant he went into the race on the back foot. He had a bad start, and when fighting for the final podium position, he mysteriously lost power and dropped down the order, never managing to recover.

Wolff explained Russell's issue; he said: "It was a bug in the electrical system in the software to try to give him an advantage.

"What it gave was a super clip that slowed the car down, and this is where he unexpectedly lost the position to Leclerc.

"So we didn't cover ourselves in glory with George's race," Wolff concluded. (Source: Sky Sports F1)