Guenther Steiner aims criticism at Toto Wolff over 'self-promotion'

Toto Wolff's radio message to Kimi Antonelli following the Italian's victory in China has been labelled “self-promotional” by former Haas boss Guenther Steiner.

Antonelli sealed his maiden race win last time out in Shanghai, becoming the second-youngest grand prix winner in F1 history.

His win came at the start of his second season on the grid, having been promoted to a Mercedes drive as an 18-year-old last year.

Immediately after his maiden win, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff took to the team radio to reflect on some criticism that was raised when Antonelli was given the seat.

“'He’s too young,” Wolff said. “'We shouldn’t put him in a Mercedes. Put him in a smaller team. He needs the experience. Look at the mistakes he makes.' Here we go, Kimi. Victory.”

However, it left Steiner far from impressed, believing the message was more about Wolff patting himself on the back rather than congratulating his driver.

“It was total self-promotional," Steiner said on The Red Flags Podcast. 

"It was like 'make sure that everybody knows that I didn't do anything wrong'. 

“And Toto wouldn't need that. But I think he has got a little bit of a complex there. I mean, the guy won. You don't need to explain it now, Toto.

"Everybody believes it. You can see it, you can feel it, you can hear it. You don't have to tell everybody, 'yeah because everybody doubted me'.

"And in the end, Kimi did it and not Toto. We always have to respect that as well."