'This is a long game' – Wolff on the importance of keeping the pressure off Antonelli

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has emphasised that Kimi Antonelli will have to play the “long game” by remaining calm in the battle for the Drivers' Championship, after the 19-year-old won three consecutive Grands Prix in China, Japan and Miami.

Following an intense rookie season for Antonelli, the initial expectation ahead of the 2026 season was that the more experienced George Russell would outperform his younger Mercedes team mate, but the Italian has gone on to convert three pole positions – his first coming in China to become the youngest-ever Grand Prix polesitter – into an equal number of victories.

Wolff previously admitted that no one at the team expected such a successful run from Antonelli, as he currently leads the standings with 100 points from the opening four rounds, 20 clear of Russell.

Although Mercedes are eager to celebrate the teenager’s achievements, they also remain acutely aware that it would be easy for him to give into the pressure that comes with finding himself as the one to beat.

“I think all of us collectively that are close to him, we need to keep re-emphasising and repeating the message: this is a long game,” Wolff said after Antonelli’s victory at the Miami Grand Prix. “He has a killer of a team mate that is extremely fast.

“The others are catching up in performance, and we want to play the long game. He can hopefully win many Championships over 10 years, 15 years. We don't want to stumble now with these huge expectations that will sit on him because the moment he has a bad race – which will happen, where he makes a mistake – people will say maybe Kimi is not the one superstar that we thought.

“Let's keep that trajectory. It's a share price that's going up. He's 19 years old. I don't think I was able to take my own flight when I was 19 and slide my way to the terminal of the airport, so it's incredible what he's doing.”

He also recognised Antonelli’s significant progress since his first campaign in F1, even though none of the youngster’s victories have been entirely straightforward amid tight competition – he has had to recover lost positions throughout several races, and has experienced near-misses such as running deep whilst leading the Chinese Grand Prix.

Wolff explained: “When you think about what we said last year, it's exactly how his performance, how his development happened. We had these great ups and moments of brilliance and then moments where he was allowed to make mistakes.

“We needed to calibrate and continue to mentor him whilst having pressure on him. He's able to analyse it, but then don't overthink it. He compartmentalises it – okay, I made a mistake, I put it away.

“This year we start the season, he's done Grands Prix, he's worked with the team, he knows the pressure that the media puts upon him. Nevertheless, we just really need to stay kind here because such a success for such a young man at that stage, all of Italy will be on him.

"The family and us, we are really the first ones actually to calm [him] down. Marco [Antonelli's father] is pretty good at keeping his son grounded, even when he's winning.”