1997 Formula 1 World Champion turned pundit Jacques Villeneuve believes that Mercedes Team Principal is determined to make the Brackley-based Formula 1 outfit a closed shop to all-comers bar Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Ever since Lewis Hamilton revealed ahead of the 2024 season that he will depart Mercedes at the end of the year to join Ferrari, the discourse surrounding who will partner Geroge Russell in 2025 has been rife.
Wolff had a long interest in trying to tempt Max Verstappen which has now cooled, as has any interest in the displaced Carlos Sainz.
Instead, Wolff has ramped up talk of graduating Mercedes Junior Antonelli from Formula 2 to F1 next season and Villeneuve has made some outspoken claims on the matter.
“Mercedes is not really an open door,” said Villeneuve.
“It’s [Kimi] Antonelli’s team, that’s the future.
“He’s been prepped for it. Toto [Wolff] will not have it any other way. There’s ego in there.
“He will prove to the world that he was right, that when Antonelli was 12, he knew that he was a future champion.”
Whether Wolff prioritising Antonelli is a matter of “ego” or not is merely speculative and typical of Villenueve’s brand of outspoken punditry.
What is known is that Antonelli is a quickly rising star, having bypassed Formula 3 to compete in F2 this year.
The Italian teenager has also been within Mercedes’ ranks since 2019 so it’s abundantly clear that Wolff and his team see him as a big part of the team’s future.
Moreover, Wolff had an opportunity to bring Verstappen to F1 as a rookie but lost out to Red Bull, who had the flexibility to place the Dutchman in its Toro Rosso squad in 2015 while Mercedes had its hands full in more ways than one with Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
As a result, it’s no wonder that Wolff has chosen to focus on Antonelli instead of Sainz.
“We just want to concentrate on Kimi, that is our future, young drivers,” Wolff told Sky Germany.
“We want to commit to that, to young drivers and that is what we’ve told Carlos.”
Antonelli has already tested in Mercedes’ 2021 and ’22 cars as he builds towards the future in the sport.
Rumour abounds that his debut could come before 2025 with Williams, in place of American Logan Sargeant.
The one sticking point regarding this was Antonelli’s ineligibility for an FIA Superlicense as he doesn’t turn 18 until August 25, despite having the necessary 40 points due to his success in junior formula.
However, the FIA has since relaxed its rules for drivers “to have recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition may be granted a super licence at the age of 17 years old.”
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