Toto Wolff assigns blame over Kimi Antonelli struggles at Mercedes

Toto Wolff believes Mercedes' inconsistent car is responsible for the difficulties Kimi Antonelli has endured in his rookie F1 season.

The team principal of the Brackley-based squad pointed the finger at the W16, explaining that its idiosyncrasies make it "harder" for the young Italian to "adapt."

Having started his debut season well, scoring points in five of the first six rounds, the 18-year-old started to struggle.

Apart from an impressive maiden podium at the Canadian Grand Prix, which punctuated the equilibrium, Antonelli failed to finish inside the top 10 over the next seven rounds.

It meant he did not score a single point in Europe until the final round before the summer break, the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he finished tenth.

The nexus of Antonelli's problem was an ill-fated rear suspension upgrade, which strongly curtailed his form from Imola onwards, with mistakes scattered amongst poor form and bad luck.

When Mercedes rowed back the development at the Hungaroring, he was immediately back in the points. However, aside from the outlier in Montreal, it was a confidence-sapping period for the teenager.

Nonetheless, Wolff maintains that such hardship is part of "becoming a champion" in F1, which is widely considered Antonelli's trajectory as a 'generational talent'.

"Kimi is an enormous talent: he’s fast, he’s intelligent, but he’s very young," the Austrian told La Gazzetta dello Sport in a recent interview.

"I said it from the start: he will make mistakes, we know that, and we wouldn’t have signed him if we weren’t aware of that.

"Unfortunately, our car isn’t very consistent, and that makes it harder for him to adapt. But going through these difficulties is also part of the process of becoming a champion."

'A learning experience for us all'

Mercedes has been very careful with how it has handled Antonelli and his career, with support provided as he ascended the single-seater ladder to F1.

However, Wolff acknowledges it is a "learning experience" trying to protect him from the risk of being in a top team at such a young age.

"I think it’s a learning experience for all of us," the 53-year-old said. "We’ve never had such a young guy in our team, and Formula 1 in general has never had an eighteen-year-old in a top team.

"We’re trying to work together, also with his family, to create an environment where Kimi can put his best foot forward on the track."