(Motorsport-Total.com) – Toto Wolff is full of praise for Kimi Antonelli after the Miami Grand Prix: “For me, today was the best race he has driven so far,” he said on Sky Deutschland.
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“The car was not at the level of the upgrades like McLaren was,” emphasizes the team principal. Furthermore, he praises the Italian’s overtaking maneuver against Lando Norris after the pit stops: “Kimi has really gotten into driving now and you can see he makes fewer mistakes. We still have to sort out the track limits, but otherwise it’s already very strong.”
Wolff is referring to the time penalty for Antonelli in the sprint race. This cost the 19-year-old two positions in the result.
“We could have saved ourselves the penalty yesterday,” emphasizes the Mercedes team principal. “But he pushes the limit and I’d rather have someone who goes over the limit. I told Bono, if he does another track limit, I’ll radio him. And that wasn’t necessary, thank God.”
Stumbling blocks on the way to victory
Antonelli also had problems at the start again, with Wolff once again blaming the technology rather than the driver: “It’s fully on the team, not the driver,” is the 54-year-old’s assessment on the Sky microphone. “We have to get it under control, we’ve been watching this for far too long now.”
Now Wolff is pondering how to avoid the 19-year-old’s premature flight of fancy: “The most important thing is to stay grounded,” he said on Sky UK. The Austrian is particularly impressed by Antonelli’s composure in the race:
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“Leading a race when someone is right on your tail, especially at the start of the stints with Norris, and being able to drive ahead despite this pressure is an outstanding character trait. He has many of those, including speed. Now he just needs some experience. I think we can expect many successes in the future.”
Praise from the world champion
This praise for the championship leader is also shared by McLaren driver Lando Norris: “It’s crazy, he’s doing a really good job,” he said on Sky UK. “You have to take your hat off. At that age, in his second year in Formula 1, he’s doing an incredible job. Performing under pressure and beating his experienced teammate is impressive.”
“He’s doing everything right, you can’t blame him,” Norris continues. “He had to endure a lot of criticism in recent years and last year, but now he’s proving many people wrong. I’m very happy for him. He’s a really nice guy. It’s really annoying because I want to beat him, but he’s doing a good job. Credit where credit is due.”
In the championship standings, Antonelli is 20 points ahead of Russell. Norris is fourth in the table after his second place in Miami, 49 points behind the Italian.
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