Wolff expects to ‘tear hair out’ in Antonelli rookie season

Toto Wolff is expecting to “tear his hair out” at times during Kimi Antonelli’s rookie season at Mercedes.

Antonelli will be Lewis Hamilton’s replacement alongside George Russell in 2025. The Italian has undergone extensive TPC [Testing of Previous Cars] running as well as FP1 sessions, deputising for both Hamilton and Russell – although he crashed the latter’s car at the Italian GP.

Antonelli is highly rated by Wolff and Mercedes and has been dubbed as the ‘next Verstappen’ after picking up multiple junior titles, including Italian F4 and FRECA. 

He will become the first rookie driver to race for Mercedes in F1 since Karl Kling on its entry to grand prix racing at the 1954 French Grand Prix. Wolff is expecting both good and bad as Antonelli learns the ropes.

“Obviously, 2025 is the same regulations and you can see that the pecking order varies depending on the track,” Wolff told media including RacingNews365. “I think the opportunity is there to fight for victories, and if you can do that, you will fight for the championship.

“George will settle in as the leading and senior driver, and Kimi is going to learn, and sometimes we will tear our hair out, and other times, we will see moments of brilliance.

“But it is going to be a year of managing expectations for Kimi and preparing our driver line-up for 2026.

“When you look at the wins this year, Red Bull’s year was defined by victories at the beginning of the year, but you will have better data if you look from half the year with four teams really close.

“McLaren won six, Ferrari five, us four and Red Bull [nine]. 

“I would love to be in the fight with the other teams, we’d love to compete for victories on merit, but it is not a given, it is absolutely something we need to fight for.”

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