2016 Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg believes Toto Wolff’s recent comments about Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli point to pressure in the background as he is “very calculated in his comments”.
While the Italian driver has seen a level of success during his rookie season with the Brackley outfit, including securing pole position for the Miami sprint race and his first F1 podium with a third-place finish at the Canadian Grand Prix, he has also run into struggles.
Wolff had previously been strong in his support for Antonelli, but after a ninth-place finish in the Italian Grand Prix, the Austrian branded the race as “underwhelming”.
“Underwhelming this weekend. Underwhelming. You can’t put the car in the gravel bed and expect to be there. All of the race was underwhelming. It doesn’t change anything on my support and confidence in his future because I believe he’s going to be very, very, very good. But today was… underwhelming,” Wolff explained.
Rosberg was surprised by the Austrian’s change of tone.
“It’s a surprising one, because at the moment, the only choice you really have is to just give Kimi the most time possible in the most calm way possible, and that means also not criticising him publicly,” Rosberg explained during the Sky Sports F1 Show podcast.
“And so this change of tone from Toto for the first time ever, usually there’s a reason behind it. Toto is very calculated in his comments. Perhaps he’s wanting to put some pressure on Kimi and his family to try a different approach, modify their approach, review their approach.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT Images via Getty Images
“But the fact of the matter is, Kimi is a generational talent, we all know that, but it’s more difficult for him than we all thought so far. And it’s a bit strange that it’s still so difficult. If you look at the statistics in racing, it’s 19-0 to George, and in qualifying, it’s 17-2 to George, and if you put in mistakes, it would be like 15-1, probably.
“It’s a really hard one, an unfortunate one, because we all want him to go well, he can go well, we know that. But the clock starts to tick at some point also, it’s a tough one.”
The former Mercedes driver added: “Give him the contract, because you need to give him whatever you can at the moment, just to help him with his confidence. Anyway, in F1, you know that worst, worst case, you can still get out of that then during the winter. Obviously you don’t have to say that now, but I would also consider that.”
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