Wolff says Antonelli might not have survived rookie struggles at another team

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the team supported Kimi Antonelli through a difficult rookie season when he believes another team would likely have dropped him.

Antonelli secured the 2026 world championship in Mexico City. Motorsport.com reports that he became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history.

“What I'm particularly proud of is that I don't think he would have lasted in other teams after an F2 season, which wasn't overwhelming. And this spell of nine races without any points last year,” Wolff said.

Although Wolff described a nine-race points drought, RacingNews365 reports that Antonelli scored three points across that stretch in 2025.

“We just trusted our data, trusted our feeling about the personality and the potential,” Wolff said.

“The journey was developing the talent, nurturing, mentoring, shielding him, protecting him, and eventually he and the car just delivered absolutely amazingly,” Wolff said.

Antonelli replaced Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2025, with the team putting him straight into its race seat rather than first placing him elsewhere.

He had finished sixth in his Formula 2 campaign with PREMA Racing before moving into F1.