Toto Wolff pokes fun at Kimi Antonelli after 'grim' moment

Toto Wolff has poked fun at Kimi Antonelli's "grim" start in the Japanese GP after another slow Mercedes getaway.

From pole, Antonelli got wheel-spin in the second phase of the start and bogged down to sixth place, and was initially stuck behind Lando Norris's McLaren. 

After eventually clearing the reigning world champion, Antonelli's pace improved, and he did not pit by the time Oliver Bearman sustained a 50G impact in a high-speed crash, triggering the safety car.

This essentially handed Antonelli a free pit-stop as leaders Oscar Piastri and George Russell had pitted in the laps just prior, with the Italian seeing out the final 25 laps for a dominant win, his second of the season to become the youngest-ever driver to lead the world championship. 

Detailing yet another bad start from Mercedes, Wolff joked that Antonelli needed to go back to driving school to learn how to control a manual clutch.

"I mean, it was a botched start, and these kids learn in the driving schools with automatics, so we need to teach them how to release a clutch slowly, steadily and not too quickly," Wolff told Sky Sports F1.

"It was pretty grim, and I thought: 'Not again', because obviously we're not giving them the easiest of tools and our starts have been on the mediocre side, and we need to improve on. that.

"But the driver had a massive influence on the car not going away. It looked good with the wheel spin, but it isn't fast. In the race, he made his way up and was there when it mattered.

"He was really fast, and we were able to extend his stint by that one lap, and that caused George's race to go belly up."