Toto Wolff makes striking Kimi Antonelli claim after Max Verstappen heroics

Toto Wolff believes Kimi Antonelli is transitioning from "young boy to young man" after defeating Max Verstappen in a late Brazilian GP duel. 

In the closing laps in Sao Paulo, Antonelli was being hunted down by world champion Verstappen on fresher soft tyres for second place. 

The Italian, who had finished second in the Sprint, did not allow Verstappen a chance to attack and finished the race in second place for his best grand prix result, defeating team-mate George Russell for the second successive weekend. 

The result was enough for Antonelli to break Lewis Hamilton's rookie points record from 2007, as he secured a second podium, after third in Canada.

However, Antonelli had endured a terrible run of form throughout the European season, culminating in Wolff labelling his performance after the Italian GP as "underwhelming."

Since then, Antonelli has improved his showings, taking top six results in Azerbaijan, Singapore and Mexico City before delivering the second podium.

Reflecting, Wolff believes things have finally started to click for his protege.

"All weekend it was strong, from the get-go go and it is good to see," Wolff told media, including RacingNews365. 

"Maybe coming to a track he didn't know, it is a bit easier with the expectations and maybe expectations are lower and the pressure is not as high as at some of the Europeans. 

"The execution was faultless at the end, and being able to fend off Max on a newer and softer tyre was really strong and a testament to what's to come.

"Next year, he will come to these tracks that he knows without expecting to kill it, and this is a learning year. 

"We always expected to come with ups and downs, it is definitely a good moment, but there will be more difficult ones, but let's see at the next few races. 

"I think we're seeing the young boy becoming a young man."