Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says Ferrari should not be criticised for not signing Andrea Kimi Antonelli when he was a kart racer.
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Antonelli joined Mercedes’ junior driver programme in 2018. His father has said that Ferrari’s then-team principal Maurizio Arrivabene previously declined the chance to sign the 11-year-old due to his age.
Wolff, however, doesn’t think Ferrari deserves blame for missing out on Italy’s latest rising star, who now leads the drivers’ championship for Mercedes.
“Now everyone talks about Kimi’s talent, about how early we found him,” Wolff told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I hear people saying things like: ‘Ferrari should have discovered him when he was young.’
“But that is not correct, because the true value of our Mercedes junior programme has been creating the right environment for him to grow, giving him the best tools and supporting him through difficult situations. Talent is only the starting point, but the real work has happened during these eight years together.”
Mercedes has progressed several drivers into Formula 1, including Antonelli’s team mate George Russell, but the team began working with Antonelli at a younger age than many others.
“With Kimi this is a long-term project, one we began as a team many years ago,” Wolff said. “We have a fantastic group of people who, at every level, make sure he can perform at his best and feel protected while remaining himself both as a driver and as a young man. His parents have helped enormously because they have done, and continue to do, a fantastic job of raising Kimi with the right values.
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“The talent is only the starting point, but the real work has been done over these eight years together. He has a long future ahead of him.”
Russell currently sits 20 points behind his team mate in the drivers’ standings, as Antonelli has claimed victory in the last three rounds. Wolff expects Russell to mount a comeback at the next race in Montreal, where he won last year.
“What we love about this sport is that the stopwatch at the end of the race never lies, and the stopwatch says Kimi deservedly won the last three grands prix,” Wolff said. “Russell has not performed quite as well, in some cases because of team problems, bad luck, and in Miami because of his own mistakes. That said, we know George’s value and we know he will return, starting in Canada, highly competitive and ready to make life difficult for his rivals.”
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