Toto Wolff urged to end 'horrible moment' for 'generational talent' with immediate contract

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has been urged to immediately hand Kimi Antonelli a new contract to boost the teenager's ailing confidence following a miserable run of results.

Antonelli's rookie season has stalled since F1 started the European leg. The 18-year-old has suffered four retirements in five of the races, finishing 18th in the other.

For this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, Antonelli has endured further misery as he qualified last for the sprint and 18th for the grand prix. A power unit change means he will start an anticipated wet race at Spa Francorchamps from the pit lane.

Following qualifying, it was clear from Antonelli's red eyes, noticeable in his interviews conducted a considerable period after he had exited, that his emotions had seemingly got the better of him.

Nico Rosberg, the 2016 F1 champion, could understand Antonelli's pain. "It really hurts me to see him in an interview like that, because I can super relate as to how tough and horrible the moment is for him," he said in his role as a Sky Sports F1 analyst.

"George [Russell] is P6, and he's all the way down, almost at the end of the grid. It's so, so tough. Everybody's criticising you and looking at you a little bit negatively.

"Internally, in the team, it's a very, very difficult dynamic, and he doesn't have a contract for next year either, so his whole dream at some point is also at play here. It's a horrible, difficult moment."

Asked as to what he would do if he were in Wolff's shoes, Rosberg made it clear his former boss should act now rather than waiting and dragging on the doubt over Antonelli's future with the team, claiming the teenager is "a generational talent".

"What I may do in Toto's case, I would sign that contract with him," added Rosberg. "Anyways, it's not much money, and that would give him such a boost of confidence.

"If, by any chance, it goes bad towards the end of the year, you can still pay him out and make a change, as we've always seen in F1.

"But just signing that contract would give him this one step-change of comfort, relaxation, time. It could be something interesting."

Asked to clarify whether that meant putting pen to paper this weekend, Rosberg replied: "Yeah, go for it. Sign the paper because it's not much money. Worst case, if everything goes wrong, Toto can still get out of the contract."