Ex-Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan believes Toto Wolff should have placed teenage sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli in a midfield team rather than straight in at Mercedes.
Antonelli, 18, will partner George Russell at Mercedes next year as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement.
The Italian teenager has been a long-serving member of the Mercedes Junior programme since the age of 12 and after title success in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) in 2023, Antonelli jumped beyond the FIA Formula 3 series to contest Formula 2 this term.
A day after a brief but starring appearance during FP1 at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix weekend where he crashed on his second lap while atop the leaderboard, Mercedes confirmed the next big leap in Antonelli’s career, but Jordan thinks this is one leap too far.
“We always said that I thought the pressure of Mercedes would be too much for Kimi and his debut, and his first run, and it turned out, that’s the way it was,” Jordan told David Coulthard on the duo’s Formula for Success podcast.
“He spun out, it caused a lot of damage to the car. I still believe that there’s a place for Kimi but not in Mercedes – that’s the point I’m trying to make. I don’t care how quick he is.
“He should be placed somewhere which will give Toto and the team to learn for the year and come up that way. That’s my view on it.”
In response to Coulthard’s reference to a then-17-year-old Max Verstappen debuting in 2015 with Toro Rosso before joining Red Bull a year later, Jordan said: “Max was in Toro Rosso. Kimi Antonelli, he should be in Williams or somewhere else where Toto can place him. It’s what we’ve been saying for ages.
“Remember what Bernie Ecclestone always used to say when you go looking for money or you go looking for anything you like. He says ‘earn the right’ that’s all he’d say. ‘Earn the right to ask’.
“At the moment, I don’t see how Antonelli has earned the right, not yet. Doesn’t give me that factor of total belief. I am sorry guys.”
Jordan’s opinion is in stark contrast of Mercedes’ assessment of its young prospect, who has acclimitised well to F2 amid his team Prema consistently struggling, picking up two race victories.
Moreover, Mercedes has been impressed by the teenager’s runs in its 2021 and 2022 challengers and looks forward to more practice outings with Antonelli later in the year.
“I made up my mind [on Antonelli] five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me he was going to Ferrari,” Wolff told media including Motorsport Week in Italy last month.
With regards to Antonelli’s practice crash upon his W15 debut, Wolff noted “he’s a rookie, he’s very young, we are prepared to invest in his future.
“And these moments, they will happen, they will continue to happen next year, but there will also be a lot of highlights.
“I think what we’ve seen today was we rather have a problem in slowing him down than making him faster because what we’ve seen from one and a half laps is just astonishing.”
It’s worth noting in the argument against Jordan’s scepticism (which is equally valid given Antonelli’s inexperience) that Mercedes’ outgoing driver Hamilton made his debut with the high-flying McLaren in 2007 alongside reigning two-time champion Fernando Alonso.
And that went rather well.
Hamilton was about 4 years older and had also raced outstandingly at top levels/teams in all categories since cadet karts aged 8…..even so it was a total surprise that he could race at that level in 2007. No-one had that expectation.
I hope I’m wrong, but what wiĺl Toto say if Kimi II is responsible for a major accident? And what will the world say if he gets badly hurt in the process?
Lot of ” Ifs” in there. Lets just wait and see.