Nico Rosberg highlights Toto Wolff attitude change towards Kimi Antonelli: 'Usually there is a reason'

2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg has highlighted Toto Wolff's change in his assessment of Kimi Antonelli following the Italian Grand Prix.

Antonelli has endured a difficult European leg to the season and has consistently commented on the struggles he has faced behind the wheel at recent rounds.

At his home event from Monza, Antonelli qualified in seventh place but could not progress during the grand prix, dropping to ninth at the chequerd flag.

While asserting his long-term faith in Antonelli, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff labelled the Italian's performance as “underwhelming” - marking the first time he has publicly criticised the teenager's execution.

Rosberg, who has several years of experience dealing with Wolff, stated the Austrian is always conscious of the comments he makes to the media.

"It's a surprising one,” Rosberg told Sky F1. 

“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.

"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.”

Antonelli was signed to Mercedes this year to replace Lewis Hamilton, who opted to end his successful partnership with the Brackley-based squad and join Ferrari.

The 19-year-old enjoyed a strong opening phase of the campaign with five top-six finishes in the opening five rounds, as well as claiming the sprint pole at Miami.

Antonelli is widely expected to be retained next year alongside George Russell, with the latter convincingly outperforming his rookie team-mate.

Rosberg asserted Antonelli has the talent for a successful F1 career, but insisted he must start to string together strong results soon.

"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,” he said.  

“And it's a bit strange that it's still so difficult.

"If you look at the statistics in racing, its 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.”