Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has insisted he never doubted that Andrea Kimi Antonelli would overcome the slump that he endured during his maiden Formula 1 season.
Antonelli produced his strongest weekend in the sport to date at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as he wound up runner-up to Lando Norris in both the Sprint and main race.
Despite having never raced around Interlagos in the past, Antonelli maintained an edge over his more established team-mate George Russell throughout the weekend.
Antonelli chased Norris to the line in the Sprint and then repelled late pressure from Max Verstappen in the Grand Prix to match that result to earn a career-best finish.
The Italian admitted his second visit to the rostrum meant even more amid the morale-denting run that saw him accrue three points across the nine European rounds.
Wolff has claimed that there was not a single moment during that period when he questioned whether Antonelli had been the right choice to succeed Lewis Hamilton.
“No, I was always confident he was going to get the necessary grip,” Wolff told media including Motorsport Week.
“That’s why it was always clear Kimi was going to stay with us next season also.
“There was no doubt that with these complicated cars, the management of the tyres, nurturing them is something you need to learn.
“And in that respect that’s a great result, one of the good days like I said, we have many more difficult [ones to come], but there was never a single moment of doubt in how it’s coming.
“I always try to dampen the expectations on him. The Italians talked about the legend Kimi Antonelli after Montreal or after the Miami pole and that’s an additional pressure.
“So let’s keep both feet on the ground. He was second, the defending of Max was very impressive, but we want to win races and fight for championships.”
Wolff praises collective Mercedes effort
Along with Antonelli, Russell was also under the cosh during the closing stages at Interlagos as Oscar Piastri sought to minimise the points loss in the championship.
“That’s how motor racing should be, that’s how Formula 1 should be. Fighting for position, whether you’re the attacking guy or the defending guy,” Wolff asserted.
“I’m really proud that both of them did. Kimi’s P2 is obviously a shining light, but George defending from Piastri in exactly the same way, it’s something that I enjoyed witnessing.
“Now energy management was great. Between the engine guys, the race engineers and the driver, we tried to optimise energy harvesting and energy deployment to the best possible way on having all we had on the main straight and saving the energy in other parts. I think that was a big contributor to us not losing that race.”
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