Add a seat at the table. Or rather on the starting grid. Complete with a tricolor flag. We’ve been talking about it for months, we’re waiting for the official announcement: Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, is ready to entrust the steering wheel of the Silver Arrow to Kimi Antonelli, the Emilian brat currently involved in the F2 championship after having won everything in the minor categories.
Mister Wolff’s strategy is very clear: to replicate the great coup of Chris Horner and Helmut Marko, who in 2015 with Toro Rosso launched the still minor Max Verstappen into F1, who was then brought to Red Bull. Now the international federation has relaxed the limits introduced after the Dutchman’s case: once again, it is no longer necessary to be over eighteen to compete in a Grand Prix.
I have already expressed myself on the subject, so I will bore the reader by repeating myself. The operation is fascinating, finding an Italian driver in F1 would be wonderful. But it’s a double-edged move: Wolff has lost Hamilton, the King of Kings, and replaces him with a rookie? What if it doesn’t work? What if the talented Antonelli needed more time to grow? What if there was only one Verstappen? Well, we’ll see and you’ll see. Kimi certainly did well in the tests with the old Mercedes single-seaters and he could also, it has been rumored for some time, start the adventure immediately, joining the Williams, a team very close to Toto Wolff. In any case, best wishes to the young man. I’ll be rooting for him. I have never had the fortune of talking about an Italian F1 world champion. Who knows, maybe I still have time…
In Spain. Meanwhile, from tomorrow F1 gets back on the road: over the weekend we will race in Barcelona, a key stage for understanding the true level of the single-seaters. After the sensational fiasco in Canada, Ferrari needs immediate redemption. Fred Vasseur, the head of the racing department, is aware of this: “In the Spanish GP we want to return to the levels of competitiveness that we have always had during the season. The team has learned from what happened in Canada and I believe that we have already turned the page. We must working calmly and focusing on ourselves, also encouraged by the fantastic result obtained by our Ferrari Hypercar colleagues at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where they won for the second year in a row, is a testing ground for the whole car package and we expect to find our usual form here. Having said that, this season we have almost always seen a fight on the edge both in qualifying and in the race, so it will be essential to take care of every detail. The team must remain super focused because it is only with perfect executions on the track that we can get where we want and we know we can be. This is Carlos’ home race and I am sure that the fact of being supported by an extra number of fans will be a further boost. of trust for him. We have an intense weekend ahead of us, we want to bring home many points.”
