Wolff admits Russell too long at Williams but too early for Antonelli?

Both Russell and Antonelli are graduates of the Mercedes F1 team's driver academy, the pair to be teammates from 2025 as Lewis Hamilton begins his new chapter with Ferrari. Thus, for the first time, the driver line-up will be homegrown talent by Merc.

Speaking to reporters during the Italian Grand Prix weekend, on the occasion of confirming Antonelli as the driver to replace Hamilton, Wolff recalled Russell's rise to the 'Big Team' after a three-season spell at Williams: "Maybe we’ve learnt the lesson...

"George was maybe too long at Williams; he made some of the mistakes with them where he was not so visible. Now that we’ve fast-tracked Kimi, mistakes are going to be more visible because it’s in a Mercedes.

“But we’re absolutely ready for that investment, and having these two guys—full Mercedes juniors now in Formula 1—is really great to see. It’s a testament to the work of the junior team, looking at the minis today, the under-10s that are racing in karting," ventured Wolff.

On Friday, day one of the Monza GP weekend, Antonelli got his first official chance at showing the world what he had. But it backfired mightily as the over-eager teenager showed his age and inexperience by pranging George Russell's car (quite) heavily within ten minutes of the session.

It was a debut flop, which Mercedes tried to spin-doctor as he's got the speed, but it got away from him. We saw silly (in the true sense of the word) speed delivered far too early on a newly tarmac-ed ultra-green track but no brain applied, hence the bent metal on the pickup truck.

A day later Mercedes made it official that Antonelli was indeed their man (or is it kid) for 2025 and beyond. Whatever the case, there is a great deal of hype around the arrival of F1's second Kimi. Wolff explained how it all started nearly a decade ago: “I think most of the credit needs to go to Gwen Lagrue.

"He manages our academy and his team because they’re able to scout from a very early age onwards. We as Mercedes wouldn’t have found Kimi—he was 11 years old; we saw the results on track and obviously working with the kart teams.

“It was Gwen who found Kimi, so it’s good that we are now here in 2024 with two Mercedes juniors that we were able to support from the very early stages of their career," boasted Wolff.

Russell's journey to a Mercedes seat is well told; after the triple seasons at Williams, he replaced Valtteri Bottas alongside Hamilton in 2021, and the rest is history. The kid from the academy is a Grand Prix winner.

In contrast, with scant single-seater experience and a mediocre first Formula 2 campaign, Antonelli is stepping up to fill the massive shoes Hamilton leaves behind. Skipping a year or two with a team like Williams, straight into the, nowhere to hide, glare of F1. Will Kimi sink or swim? Watch this space!