Toto Wolff warns against 'manic depressive' F1 in media 'avalanche' plea

Toto Wolff has explained his pointed team radio message to Kimi Antonelli as the 19-year-old crossed the line to clinch his maiden grand prix victory at the Shanghai International Circuit.

The Mercedes driver converted his first pole position — having become the youngest person in F1 history to do so — into triumph at the Chinese Grand Prix, closing the deficit to team-mate George Russell to just four points.

However, Wolff is adamant that Antonelli and the team must keep their "feet on the ground" and has moved to quieten any talk about a title tilt in what is only the driver's second season in F1.

But the 54-year-old could not help taking a dig at the detractors of the young Italian, and those who questioned the decision to put him straight into a Mercedes.

As Antonelli took the chequered flag, Wolff came over the team radio to congratulate him, saying: "He's too young. We shouldn't put him in a Mercedes. Put him in a smaller team. He needs the experience. Look at the mistakes he makes. Here we go, Kimi. Victory!"

When those remarks were put to the Austrian in his post-weekend press conference, whilst he did not share who that message was aimed at, he explained the reasoning behind it.

"When things go bad, there are the people who come out and say, 'that was a bad decision', and 'Mercedes took too much risk'," Wolff said to media, including RacingNews365.

"It was never like really harsh criticism, because people recognise the talent that he has, but there were many voices within the sport and outside that said 'that was a mistake to do'."

The Mercedes team principal admitted it was nice to be vindicated for the call to bring Antonelli straight in alongside Russell last year, but cautioned against the recency bias that is prevalent in F1.

"So it's nice to have a little revanche, but obviously it's one race win," he stated. "This sport that we live in is manic depressive; today, it's great, in two weeks we are in Japan, and if he puts it in the wall, people will say he's too young.

"So I think we need to just keep our feet on the ground."

Addressing the journalist who asked the question, whom Wolff had said was "certainly not" the target of his comments, he did issue a plea to help Antonelli.

"You need to write that in Italy, also, that the biggest risk is... yeah, please help him," he added.

"Remember last year, 'Grande Kimi' and whatever it was, and then came Imola, and there was an avalanche of pressure; there shouldn't be any pressure at the moment."