Hours leading up to the Monza Grand Prix, the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team formally announced their driver lineup for the 2025 season. With Lewis Hamilton leaving for Ferrari, the Silver Arrows appointed an 18-year-old rookie teenager, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, as a replacement and George Russell’s new teammate.
Kimi Antonelli was deemed frontrunner to replace Lewis Hamilton ever since Mercedes ramped up his practice sessions in F1 cars. However, team principal Toto was aggressively pursuing a three-time world champion on the sidelines as well. Interestingly, on the eve of Kimi’s contract announcement, Wolff took a u-turn which prompted the fans to call out his lies.
Toto Wolff Reveals He Made Up His Mind To Sign Kimi Antonelli In February
Mercedes’ quest to find a replacement for Lewis Hamilton lasted longer than earlier anticipated partly due to Red Bull’s internal crisis. Instability in Red Bull invoked by Christian Horner’s sexual harassment case offered a glimmer of hope for Toto Wolff as he viewed Max Verstappen as a realistic choice for his team. Wolff played mind games to distract Red Bull and even had a conversation with the Dutch driver’s dad and manager during summer break. However, Verstappen was unwilling to ditch Red Bull just yet, and Wolff eventually announced Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the second driver for the 2025 season. However, the Austrian team principal’s tone in Monza left fans baffled.
Toto Wolff said that he made up his mind to sign Kimi Antonelli five minutes after Lewis Hamilton briefed him on his decision to join Ferrari back in the final week of January this year. Wolff added that he kept his options open as Mercedes didn’t want to discount anybody available on the driver market. However, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell are the two drivers Wolff always envisioned as teammates sometime in the future. “We didn’t discount it completely with looking at what happened at Red Bull, but instinctively, that is the line-up with these two that I always wanted,” Wolff said. However, the fans weren’t convinced at all by the Austrian team principal. They accused Wolff of blatant lying as his desperate pursuit of Max Verstappen was evident. Many believe that Wolff isn’t brave enough to admit that Verstappen rejected him and is using Kimi as bait to save humiliation.
Kimi Antonelli Wishes To Succeed, Not Replace Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes Legacy
Meanwhile, in an heartwarming statement following his appointment as Mercedes driver, Andrea Kimi Antonelli revealed that he does not intend to replace Lewis Hamilton as its improbable to step into the shoes of a legend. Kimi instead wants to succeed Hamilton and carry forward his legacy as a success Mercedes driver.
On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton also showered his support to Kimi Antonelli. He revealed how he was aware of the signing for a while. But it was also an emotional morning for Lewis to witness a seat that he held for over a decade, now belong to someone else. Regardless, he wishes Kimi to achieve success with the team.
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