Kimi Antonelli’s future at Mercedes is secure, with Toto Wolff confirming the Italian will remain with the team for the 2026 season, despite his costly crash with Charles Leclerc at the Dutch Grand Prix
Despite a costly crash at the Dutch Grand Prix, Toto Wolff is sticking with his driver line-up of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. That is despite another chastening experience for the latter at Zandvoort which saw him leave without scoring points again.
The Italian teenager’s ambitious move on Charles Leclerc ended in disaster when he sent the Monegasque racer into the wall after an audacious attempt at turn three. Not only was the Ferrari driver’s race ended but the penalty Antonelli picked up ruined his chances of a strong result.
Antonelli had qualified just outside the top 10 but was running as high as sixth when Mercedes decided to bring him in for an undercut attempt on Leclerc. Despite emerging from the pit exit just ahead of the young Italian, Leclerc managed to retain his position on track.
However, sensing an opportunity, Antonelli made a daring lunge at turn three which spectacularly backfired. As he dived in low, he drew alongside Leclerc, but as they rounded the steep banked corner, he veered up towards the rear of the SF-25 machine.
On exit, his front-right tyre clipped the Ferrari, sending the 27-year-old crashing into the barriers and out of the race. The fallout saw Antonelli slapped with a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points, and he later collected another five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
These penalties saw him drop down to 16th at the chequered flag, ruining what had been a promising weekend. However, despite these costly errors, Wolff’s plans for his driver line-up remain unchanged. “I always said, there’s not going to be any big news because we’re doing this,” he said.
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“With George [Russell], there’s a few things where we want to optimise some of the travelling and the marketing days, how many hours we’re putting [into it]. He’s an experienced driver, and for us, it’s always important to talk about it.
“We want to have the best performance of the drivers, and I think we’ve given both of them quite a strain with marketing activities and media activities, and this is how we, in a way, recalibrate.
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“Is there going to be an announcement in Monza? No. But I don’t think it’s even going to be a big announcement. It’s just going to give you the heads up and say we’ve put a signature on the agreement.”
Antonelli, 19, is seen as a long-term prospect by Mercedes despite this difficult spell in his maiden season, which Wolff had always said would be a year of learning for the teenager. The team believes he has the talent to go on to be the next superstar of the sport.