‘Mercedes’ regrets Antonelli’s chance to take part in Italian GP training : F1LV Blog

The manager of the “Mercedes” unit Toto Wolff has admitted that it was not the right decision to allow Andrea Kimi Antonelli to participate in the practice of the Italian F1 stage this year, where the athlete had an accident .

Taking part in the practice run on his home stage was the first time Antonelli took part in an official “Grand Prix” session behind the wheel of an F1 car. Although the speed of the young talent was immediately apparent, only ten minutes passed and an accident followed in the corner of “Parabolica”.

Now Wolff admits that it was not quite right to put Antonelli at the wheel at this stage.

“I wouldn’t say it was a mistake, but I think we didn’t fully assess the pressure on him,” said the Mercedes manager in an interview with Motorsport.com. “We had talked about it , we had talked about how to deal with this session. He was unstable in the tests. At no time had he done anything wrong in thousands of kilometers something completely different when you’re an Italian pilot, you’re 18 years old and you get your first chance in Monza.”

Wolff said: “If we had assessed him as a high-risk factor, it would probably have been wiser to give him the opportunity to train in a completely different place, far from Italy. But Kimi will have learned a lot from all this.”

First, Antonelli damaged George Russell’s car, but Wolff is also concerned that he left a bad emotional toll.

“I don’t think it was good because he regrets it,” Wolff says. “It was so fast, it was his first session in Italy and everyone was preparing at that time that he would be proven as our pilot. But I like his way of working. He is fast from the first lap, and I would like him to be high in it the results, but it didn’t happen as a result of the accident.”