Verstappen, more praise for Antonelli
When Kimi Antonelli went through his first real crisis period as an F1 driver, many turned their backs on him. Last summer, Toto Wolff‘s brilliant idea had turned into a crazy gamble that could have burned the Bolognese’s career. Instead, a few months later, the Austrian proved he was right all along: Antonelli was ready to take off, and that central part of 2025 gave him very useful lessons for the championship he is leading.
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One who never had any doubts about Antonelli is someone who knows talent well, because he has it in abundance: Max Verstappen. The four-time world champion, who took the Italian under his wing, has always been sure of the qualities of number 12, even if some inexperience mistakes by Antonelli ended up penalizing him (just remember the start crash at the 2025 Austrian GP).
Verstappen’s words about Antonelli
“Kimi did not surprise me at all. I knew he was driving for a top team and was a rookie. Especially with the old generation of cars, it was very difficult for young drivers to jump in and be fast immediately. I never had any doubts about him,” said the four-time F1 world champion about Antonelli.
“Obviously, you never know how much a driver will improve from one season to the next. But he is beating his teammate and doing a great job. It’s nice to see that you can be like that at that age. I think it’s something you notice from a young age, but Kimi has always been a bit more special than the others,” he added. “I don’t think I need to give him any advice, he doesn’t need it. What he is doing right now is perfect. All he needs is not to have pressure. Leave him alone, let him do what he is capable of. He is really good, he will figure out how to do it.”
From this point of view, Antonelli is lucky to be able to grow in an environment that knows how to protect him, like Mercedes. Wolff was the first to defend him after the mistake on his debut in a race weekend (FP1 at Monza 2024) and has always asked the Italian media not to put excessive pressure on the Bolognese.
