Johnny Herbert’s view
“I like to make life difficult for myself.” That is how Andrea Kimi Antonelli summed up his home weekend at Monza after qualifying in seventh position. The Mercedes driver was referring to the mistake he made in the second free practice session, which prevented him from completing the usual FP2 program that includes both qualifying simulations and long runs.
On Sunday, Antonelli had a poor start and was forced into a recovery drive, eventually finishing ninth after receiving a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits more than three times. The two points gained were not enough to keep Alexander Albon behind him in the drivers’ standings. The Williams driver now sits in seventh place with 70 points, compared to the 66 collected by Antonelli, who has managed only three points in the last six races.
Johnny Herbert believes Antonelli is a gamble Toto Wolff cannot afford to lose: “Toto Wolff does not want to accept that Kimi Antonelli is not working out,” the former driver explained in an interview with Racing Tipster. “There is a human side that comes into play. I think Toto is in a position where he does not want to accept that at the moment it has not worked and still is not working. He still believes Kimi can make it. But this is one of those situations that sometimes happen in Formula 1. Sometimes a driver fails to make the ‘click’ in F1 even if they have an excellent résumé. Nyck de Vries comes to mind as an example. Wolff is counting on giving Antonelli a better car in 2026 so that he can shine, in order to tell the Mercedes board — which is most likely putting him under pressure — ‘you see, I told you so’. Antonelli is quick, but George Russell is ahead of him by two or three tenths, and what really weighs are the mistakes Antonelli keeps making, errors that could cost the team a championship next year if they indeed have the car they believe they will have.”
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