Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says that Kimi Antonelli was “walking over the water” when he won the F2 sprint race at Silverstone – and added that the success had taken a lot of weight off the young Italian’s shoulders.
Antonelli has been in the spotlight all season, given that he has a clear shot at replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes as early as 2025.
However, his debut season in F2 has been difficult. His Prema team has struggled to match its usual front-running form.
Still, after teammate Oliver Bearman logged his first victory of 2024 when he won the sprint in Austria, Antonelli repeated that feat at Silverstone, having previously not bettered a fourth place.
He dominated a rain-affected race that saw several safety car periods due to a series of incidents. Antonelli retired early in the Sunday feature race after contact but then watched Lewis Hamilton win the main event.
Wolff: Antonelli victory proves why he is on road to F1
Wolff made it clear that the sprint victory went a long way to answering those who believe that Antonelli is being rushed towards an F1 future.
“At this moment, where you see the greatest British driver checking out with us at the British Grand Prix, and in the garage, you have this young Italian that hasn’t got a driving licence even that was watching that scene,” said Wolff when asked about Antonelli taking victory.
“And I bet he thought, I want to be that one day. Maybe not here, but in Monza.
“It’s been difficult this year. Because you can see that him and Bearman are struggling a lot with the car, and he isn’t happy with his driving. Not the pace in the race, but he was simply stalling twice, and that could have been avoided.
“But seeing him [Antonelli] on Saturday walking over the water, at times two seconds quicker than everybody else. You can see the talent, the ability, and the potential this young man has.
“And winning that race took a lot of weight off his shoulders. Today, he DNF’d, but it wasn’t his fault. You qualify with the numpties, you race with the numpties!”
