Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has explained how Kimi Antonelli is causing "these grey hairs" with his aggressive driving style in F1.
The Italian now finds himself 81 points clear at the summit and is closing in on shattering the record for the youngest F1 world champion, eclipsing Sebastian Vettel's 2010 record by over three years, if he does go onto win the 2026 crown, as is widely expected.
At the recent Spanish Grand Prix, in the closing stages, Antonelli radioed into his engineer Peter Bonnington to report a potential wall-strike and to ask his W17 be checked for damage, with the 20-year-old pushing hard, despite being in a comfortable lead - which he converted into his eighth win of the season.
Antonelli has a habit of exceeding track limits or running wide and reporting potential wall-strikes, as his Mercedes boss Wolff explained how he and Antonelli's father, Marco, had to "drum" into the protege the danger.
"I just discussed it with his father, and that's just Kimi," Wolff told media, including RacingNews365, when asked about Antonelli's late brush with a wall.
"We had to drum it into his head that he shouldn't go over the white lines, even after Monza [FP1 in 2024] when he went over the white lines and shunted the car.
"I said to him: 'Don't you see out of the car? Do you need to see the high ups that you have the track limits things?'
"We had a laugh about it, and [in the Spanish GP], six laps to the end or whatever it was, he says: 'Check the car, I brushed the wall.'
"He's causing these grey hairs, but maybe he's like this, and maybe that's what is making him so quick."
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Championship talk for Antonelli
With Antonelli 81 points clear of sister Mercedes driver George Russell and over 100 of Lewis Hamilton, barring a calamity, he will be the 2026 world champion.
However, Wolff has urged Antonelli and the team to be careful of a "black swan" event which could snatch the title from his grasp.
"Obviously, he is not thinking about it. This kid is able to compartmentalise and be the young kid and then get into the car and be the mature racing driver," said Wolff.
"That's why Kimi says to himself: 'I'm not thinking about the championship, and he is not thinking about the championship.
"There are black swan events; they can come, and you lose something at the end when you didn't think it was possible to lose."
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