Toto Wolff has commented on the rumors that would see Kimi Antonelli ready to make his Formula 1 debut with Williams as early as the Imola weekend
On the day in which the pole position and the victory in the sprint race in Miami are assigned, the paddock wonders whether the weekend in Florida it will be the last of Logan Sargeant’s Formula 1 career. In fact, several rumors have been circulating for days related to the imminent future of Kimi Antonelli, with Mercedes apparently ready to make the young talent debut in Formula 1 with Williams already in the Imola weekendstill a minor.
The FIA confirmed yesterday to have received a request from Williams to grant a special super license to the Mercedes Academy driver, although Kimi has not yet reached the age of majority (he will turn 18 on August 25th).
Toto Wolff has now also intervened on the issue, but he has firmly denied the rumors, stating that the original plans will not undergo any changes: “The waiver was not raised by us and we certainly stated from the beginning that it was not something we pursued.”
“Everything else is just rumours, which continue to circulate and which are factually incorrect. He is an F2 driver for Prema. This is what he’s doing, ed that’s what we’re all focusing on.”
The Austrian reiterated that Mercedes has no intention of rushing ahead and allowing Kimi to follow a natural growth path: “Just 15 months ago he was in an F4 car. We believe a lot in Kimi, in his abilities and in his future, but there is a trajectory that we must follow diligently, rather than trying to dream of jumping from one series to another in a way that is certainly not advantageous for him.”
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“I believe that a champion doesn’t let himself be distracted by all this. But certainly, at least for me, it’s distracting because everyone asks me: ‘And Kimi and the driving at Imola? This won’t happen. That’s not something Mercedes wants. These rumors have made their rounds. Let’s do Formula 2. As a team we have many other issues to resolve.”
Finally, Wolff confirmed the idea of asking the FIA for an exemption it is not something initiated or strongly desired by Mercedes: “I think this waiver is probably something that has caught on as more and more people have warmed to the idea. It’s certainly nothing we’ve ever pushed on our end.”
If seeing Antonelli in the car in just a few weeks would therefore seem like an option to be discarded, the hypothetical debut in Monza could already be a much more viable optiongiven that the boy will have already turned 18, and will have accumulated much more experience in F2.
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