F1 News
Wolff praises astonishing Antonelli after big crash in F1 debut
Andrea Kimi Antonelli's FP1 debut in Formula One did not go according to plan for Mercedes and the Italian youngster. 10 minutes after the session has begun, the Italian found himself in the tyre barrier in Parabolica. Team principal Toto Wolff reacted to his driver's mishap in Monza following the session.
Already over the team radio Wolff decided to comfort the Italian youngster, who crashed in the Parabolica corner. "All good Kimi!," the Austrian told his driver. "Most importantly, he's OK because the crash was 45G, so that's important. Second priority is to get the car ready for George. So the programme doesn't suffer too much, which hopefully is going to be OK. It may run a little bit late, but it's going to be ok," the team principal began to explain where things stand for his team at the moment.
"And the third one, yeah, it's unfortunate because I guess having had an hour to run, we would have seen some good performances. But that's what we always said. He's a rookie, he's very young. We are prepared to invest into his future. These moments, they will happen and they will continue to happen next year. But there will also be a lot of highlights. 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," also praised the Mercedes junior driver.
Antonelli apologised
According to Wolff, Antonelli could hold his hands up following the crash: "He apologised, first of all. And I think this is what you need to do when you bring a car, a bag that looks a little bit like a Lego box falling on the floor. But also said that the car, he felt so much confidence, the car was good. He was just bitten. Everybody suffered from lots of temperature and especially rear temperature out of a Ascari with these kinds of speeds. And that's why the rear went away, stepped out."
Crash doesn't influence decision
Antonelli is rumoured highly to become George Russell's teammate at the German team next season. Wolff said that a crash in FP1 would not influence his decision. "No, zero effect. I think the most important is to hire based on ability. And an FP1 that's gone wrong is not a reason why you decide for or against the driver."
Where could Antonelli next try his luck in a free practice session? Wolff also answered: "We haven't completely decided yet, but I think Mexico."
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