Wolff reveals what he said to Antonelli after ‘unfortunate’ FP1 crash as he insists incident has ‘zero effect’ on 2025 driver call

Toto Wolff has opened up on what he told Kimi Antonelli both before and after the teenager crashed during his debut FP1 outing for Mercedes at the Italian Grand Prix. The Mercedes Team Principal also insisted the crash will have no bearing on the team’s driver decision for 2025.

Antonelli had made an early impression whilst running in the opening stages of the session, with the youngster going to the top of the timesheets with his first timed lap. However, things unravelled when Antonelli crashed into the barriers at Parabolica 10 minutes in.

FP1: Verstappen heads Leclerc during first practice at Monza as Antonelli crashes on debut

Asked to share his thoughts on the accident, Wolff firstly stated his relief that Antonelli had emerged from the incident unharmed.

“Most importantly he’s okay, because the crash was 45g so that’s important,” the Team Principal explained. “The second priority is to get the car ready for George [Russell in FP2] so the programme doesn’t suffer too much – hopefully it’s going to be okay, it may arrive a little bit late but it’s going to be okay.

“And the third [priority], it’s unfortunate because having an hour to run we would have seen some good performances [from Antonelli]. But that’s what we always said – he’s a rookie, he’s very young, we are prepared to invest into his future.

2024 Italian GP FP1: The story of Antonelli's first FP1

“These moments, they will happen and they will continue to happen next year, but there will also be a lot of highlights. I think what we’ve seen today was we rather have a problem with slowing him down rather than making him faster, because from what we’ve seen from one and a half laps is astonishing.”

Pushed on what Antonelli had said when he returned to the garage, Wolff answered: “He apologised first of all, and I think this is what you need to do when you bring a car back that looks a little bit like a Lego box [that has] fallen on the floor.

HIGHLIGHTS: Catch the action from FP1 at Monza as Verstappen goes fastest while rookie Antonelli crashes out

“But [he] also said that he felt so much confidence in the car, the car was good and I guess he was just bitten. Everybody suffered from loss of temperature, especially rear temperature out of Ascari with these kinds of speed, and that’s why the rear went, the way it slipped out.”

In regards to what Wolff had told Antonelli – both before and after the crash – the Austrian added: “I told him [before getting in the car] to enjoy it. I think he has a lot of natural ability but he must not forget that this is the best job in the world.

“I said to him also to take the pressure off – we live in our microbubble here, nobody’s interested in FP1 anyway. Whatever happens, happens, and just get on with things. And I told him the same after the session.”

MONZA, ITALY - AUGUST 30: Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy driving the (12) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 — Antonelli's time behind the wheel of the W15 was brief during first practice at the Italian Grand Prix

With Antonelli’s next FP1 outing likely to be in Mexico, Wolff was questioned on whether he may bring this forward to help the Italian banish the memory of his shortened first outing.

“No, I think a strong driver needs to recover from these things and cope with the pressure,” said Wolff. “Obviously this weekend wasn’t easy for him because he still needs to compete in F2.

“You have all these shenanigans around you in Monza, Italian kid that’s been hired, first time in a Mercedes, and that must be a heavy burden. But if he wants to be a champion one day he needs to cope with that, and I have no doubt that he can and he will.”

And with Antonelli strongly linked to Lewis Hamilton’s vacant seat at the team in 2025, Wolff stressed that the accident would not have any influence on the driver decision.

“No, zero effect,” he stated. “Most important is to hire based on ability, and an FP1 that’s gone wrong is not the reason why you decide for or against a driver.”