Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff has revealed that “five minutes” separated learning of Lewis Hamilton’s exit and deciding Andrea Kimi Antonelli will replace him.
The marque has now announced the long-expected news that Antonelli will be promoted to a permanent race seat to replace the Ferrari-bound Hamilton next season.
Antonelli was long considered the leading option to partner George Russell, despite Wolff having reiterated on several occasions his desire to obtain Max Verstappen.
But with Wolff’s meeting with the Verstappen camp concluding with the realisation the Dutchman will remain at Red Bull, Mercedes has handed Antonelli the opening.
When asked when he made his mind up on Hamilton’s successor, Wolff disclosed that he settled on Antonelli once the Briton’s impending egress was communicated.
“I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me he was going to Ferrari,” Wolff told media including Motorsport Week.
“Obviously we were discussing with other options, and obviously the Max idea couldn’t be discounted completely looking at what happened at Red Bull.
“But instinctively that is the line-up with these two that I always wanted.
“Bearing in mind the fast-tracking that we did with Kimi and everything that we did there too, but it was immediately what I wanted to do.”
The announcement publicised that Antonelli will complete Mercedes’ 2025 line-up with Russell, who retains a contract which will expire once next season concludes.
However, Wolff has insisted that Mercedes intends to build around its prospective pairing over the long term as he divulged that both deals include options to extend.
“These two are the future, they have been and will be Mercedes drivers,” he stated.
“Therefore we have contracts with George and Kimi that go much longer that are very complicated in terms of options etcetera.
“This is a pressure cooker, Mercedes always has been a pressure cooker, but this is where we stand as a team today, we want to go with these two.”
Wolff has denied that the decision to announce Antonelli’s F1 step-up as a short-term deal has emanated from potential concerns over how the rookie might perform.
“Like we have done in the past, we have always had very short contracts,” he pinpointed. “Even with Lewis the last time it came around it was one plus one.
“This is in a way how the team operated.
“But I think what’s most important is to see how George and Kimi settle in, and I see no reason at that stage not giving them the faith and the trust of going forward.
“What that means for the terms is something that we will discuss between ourselves.
“But we wouldn’t have gone for the line-up with these two if we wouldn’t believe 100 per cent that they are the best choice for Mercedes.”
