Toto Wolff handed firm instruction to Kimi Antonelli after crash fear

Toto Wolff has revealed how he instructed Kimi Antonelli's race engineer to "calm him down" following a late scare in his Chinese GP win.

Antonelli became the 116th different driver and first Italian to win a grand prix since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2006 Malaysian GP with his win in Shanghai, controlling the race expertly after fending off the fast-starting Lewis Hamilton. 

However, late on, Antonelli suffered a lock-up and ran wide at Turn 14, losing a couple of seconds to team-mate George Russell, with Peter Bonnington then telling Antonelli to just "bring this thing home."

Antonelli then did this to record his first grand prix win, as he became the second-youngest winner in history, the day after he became the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history. 

Reflecting on the closing laps, Wolff explained how Bonnington had initially pushed back at telling Antonelli to slow down, before doing so after the late off.

"Not really, to be honest," Wolff explained when asked by media, including RacingNews365, if he was nervous in the final laps. 

"When there is a groove, and the systems look well, at the end, it was okay. 

"Kimi can't help himself, another fastest lap, another fastest lap, and we know the pattern from Monza with his FP1 crash [in 2024 on his F1 debut], so I said to Bono [Peter Bonnington] to 'calm him down.'

"He said, 'No, I think he is in a groove, and we don't want him to lose this race.'

"[Antonelli] missed the breaking point, and I said: 'Well, okay, now will you calm him down?'

"There are a few moments which are perfect in Formula 1, and I had one in 2014, and [the podium] was maybe the second one.

"Kimi winning his first grand prix, doing a one-two with George, and Lewis third, with Bono right in the middle of them, he was with Lewis for so many years and has been part of Kimi's success and growing and developing him.

"These three spraying champagne on each other on the podium, with Lewis having beaten Charles Leclerc, so he is in a good mood, I mean, this was just great to see."