Mercedes' Wolff says too early for title talk after Antonelli's first F1 win

SHANGHAI, March 15 - Mercedes boss Toto Wolff sought to dampen hype building around 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli after the Italian powered to a commanding first Formula One grand prix win on Sunday in China to put himself in championship contention. Read more at straitstimes.com.

SHANGHAI, March 15 - Mercedes boss Toto Wolff sought to dampen hype building around 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli after the Italian powered to a commanding first Formula One grand prix win on Sunday in China to put himself in championship contention.

"You can kind of see the hype that is going to start now. Especially in Italy, I see already the headlines: 'World Champion Grand Kimi', and whatever, and that's really not good because those mistakes are going to come," the Austrian told reporters. "He's just a kid, and it's too early to even think about the championship."

Antonelli locked up his front wheels in the closing laps of the race, going off the track, a mistake betraying his inexperience that Wolff attributed to his driver not being able to help himself setting faster and faster laps even when victory is almost assured.

"I said to Bono (Antonelli's race engineer), 'come on, let's tell him to calm down... we don't want him to lose this race!" Wolff said.

"We are going to have other moments this year where there will be mistakes, because he's still just a very young man."

Wolff surprised pundits when he picked Antonelli as seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton's replacement after the British driver shocked the sport by moving to rivals Ferrari for the 2025 season, despite more experienced drivers being available.