Antonelli: Wolff’s Criticism, Fuel to Improve
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has stated that he will use Toto Wolff’s recent criticism as “fuel” to boost his performance for the remainder of the season. Wolff described Antonelli’s Italian Grand Prix weekend as “disappointing” after the 19-year-old ended up in the gravel during Friday’s practice, qualified sixth on Saturday, and struggled in Sunday’s race, finishing in ninth place. This was the first time the Mercedes boss publicly criticized his rookie driver, but Antonelli considers the comments constructive.Antonelli added that his disappointing home race has helped him focus on the eight remaining races of 2025, starting with securing clean practice sessions to fully prepare for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. After talking with Wolff, Antonelli hopes to rediscover the form he showed at the beginning of the season, when he achieved pole position for the Miami sprint race and a podium finish at the Canadian Grand Prix, in the remaining races outside of Europe.I understand your comment. Toto and I have always been very open with each other and we speak quite frankly. I think he was mainly referring to the race. Qualifying was quite good, despite the exit in FP2, but then, in the race, especially with the hard tire, I struggled a bit. I also made a mistake at the start.
Kimi Antonelli
The conversation was quite clear and he just wants me to have a clean weekend and regain the momentum I had, for example, in the first seven races of the season. Obviously, the European season has been quite tough, but now I’m really looking forward to starting the last part of the season, outside of Europe, simply because it’s always a bit quieter and I have a bit more time for myself.
Kimi Antonelli
