Toto Wolff must select a partner for George Russell in 2025 right away.
Toto Wolff has dropped a major clue that Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be elevated to Recipe 1 as Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes replacement.
Wolff has been looking for a successor as the seven-time champion prepares to move to Ferrari.
He has been eager to sign Max Verstappen from Red Bull.
Nevertheless, it appears likely that Verstappen will remain with Red Bull, with Carlos Sainz, the driver Hamilton intends to replace at Ferrari, also being touted as a potential replacement.
Wolff is reportedly inclined to promote Antonelli, a Mercedes F2 apprentice who has been dubbed “the new Verstappen.”
Mercedes hasn’t said anything yet, but Wolff has given a big hint about who will team up with George Russell in 2025.
“We simply need to focus on Kimi, that is our future, youthful drivers,” Wolff told Sky Germany.
“We’ve told Carlos that we want to commit to that, to young drivers,”
Although it was not a straight shootout for the seat as had been claimed, the team recently completed testing days with Antonelli, Mercedes, and Alpine reserve Mick Schumacher.
Wolff made sense of what occurred at the test and depicted claims that Antonelli out-performed Schumacher as well as Russell as “hogwash.”
He said of Antonelli and Schumacher, “They both completed the program that we gave them, and the performance was exactly what we expected.”
“A portion of this discussion that Kimi was quicker than George and a lot quicker than Mick is outright hogwash.
Each of them drove distinct programs.
George was by far the fastest of the three, as is to be expected, but we carried out our programs. It did not involve establishing quick times.”
