Kimi Antonelli receives 'big boy' warning as Mercedes 'honeymoon' ends

Kimi Antonelli has been warned that his Mercedes F1 "honeymoon" is over and that he is now facing the reality of "big boy" grand prix racing.

Antonelli started his rookie campaign well, taking fourth on debut from 16th on the grid in a wet Australian GP, led and set fastest lap in Japan before taking Sprint pole in Miami but his form has dipped since the European season started.

This has not entirely been his fault with Mercedes failures putting him out at Imola, in Spain, before collision damage for which he was innocent led to a retirement in the British GP. 

However, in Monaco qualifying, he crashed, before out-braking himself and wiping out Max Verstappen on Lap 1 in Austria before a similar incident against Charles Leclerc at the Dutch GP cost him a chance of a strong points finish.

In FP1 at Zandvoort, and again in FP2 at Monza, Antonelli beached his W16 early in the sessions, missing crucial track time but did go onto start sixth for his home GP.

At Monza, he picked up a five-second penalty and further penalty point for forcing Alex Albon off track, and after a poor start, came home 10th, with boss Toto Wolff criticising Antonelli publicly for the first time, branding his performance as "underwhelming."

Of the 2025 class of rookies, only Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar were in the same position of never having started a grand prix like Antonelli, but whilst their performances improve, Antonelli's trend is downwards.

It is something former F1 driver Perry McCarthy feels will be a huge test for the Italian protege.

"I mean, you've got to come in at some point, and it's been the same for Gabriel and for Isack, and for Kimi, there are lots of things, especially nowadays, being monitored," McCarthy told RacingNews365. 

"I just sense that maybe there is not as much protection for him at Mercedes as there was, and that they are going to be looking at it through squinted eyes a bit more.

"Maybe the honeymoon is beginning to go now, it is big boy time, and there are two types of pressure in this game.

"You are either taking it, or you're handing it out; that is the principal thing about this game, and you've got to be able to do with it. 

"If you closely examine all the things which have happened to Kimi, then you probably make more allowances, but the problem is that it becomes even more important when you don't have mechanical problems or team problems that you show what you can do, rather than throwing your errors on top of the team ones or bad luck. 

"So it comes back to the pressure, and suddenly all the focus is now on Kimi's mistakes rather than the achievements, and that is the problem. 

"As soon as you start getting that as a racing driver, you're looking over your shoulder all the time."