Toto Wolff: “Monza emotional for Antonelli, but he will focus 100% on the job on track”
The first comments from the Mercedes Team Principal ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
Mercedes after Zandvoort
The Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort brought partially positive results for Mercedes. George Russell lifted the team’s spirits with a strong fourth place, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended up only 16th after receiving penalties for a collision with Charles Leclerc and for speeding in the pit lane. With that chapter closed, the Anglo-German squad now looks ahead to the Italian Grand Prix this weekend.
Mercedes history in Italy
The next challenge will be Monza, the iconic “Temple of Speed,” where the Silver Arrows boast seven victories in their history. Alongside the two wins secured by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s, Mercedes celebrated five consecutive triumphs from 2014 to 2018, with the last of those seeing Lewis Hamilton stand on the top step of the podium. All of those more recent successes were achieved with Toto Wolff at the helm as Team Principal.
For the Austrian manager, the mission this time is to fight for the podium after a Dutch GP in which both Russell and Antonelli seemed capable of aiming for the top three but ultimately missed out for different reasons. “We head to Monza aiming for a more consistent and straightforward weekend compared to Zandvoort,” Toto Wolff explained. “At times we looked like we had decent pace that could have allowed us to fight for the podium. Despite starting 11th, Kimi recovered well and, without the contact with Charles Leclerc, he probably would have been in a position to challenge the cars ahead in the final stages. George’s race was also compromised by an incident with Ferrari. He did a strong job nonetheless, bringing home important points in fourth place despite significant damage to the car’s floor.”
Kimi Antonelli ready for Monza
Now the focus shifts to Monza, which represents Antonelli’s second home race of the season after Imola. The young driver from Bologna also made his Formula 1 debut in FP1 at this very track last year, in a weekend when Mercedes officially announced him as a full-time race driver for this season. “The Italian Grand Prix is always a special weekend, with a fantastic atmosphere,” Toto Wolff added. “For Kimi it is his second home race of the year. Even though it will be an emotional event for him, we know his focus will be 100% on the job on track. The battle behind McLaren is very tight, and we need to give everything if we want to continue reducing the gap in the Constructors’ Championship and challenge for second place.”
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