The Mercedes boss praised the Italian after his third consecutive win, despite a complicated weekend for the team, he acknowledges the problems with the starts and that the car is not as dominant: "It's special how he's seizing the moment," he stated.
Kimi Antonelli continues to make history, the young Italian from Mercedes achieved his third consecutive victory of the season in Miami, a feat that not even his own team principal expected. Toto Wolff did not hold back praise for his driver after he converted pole position into victory for the third race in a row, something he described as "special."
The weekend was not easy for the Silver Arrows, for the first time so far this championship, Mercedes felt the pressure from its rivals. McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari arrived in Miami with extensive upgrade packages that significantly closed the gap, in the sprint race, the German team experienced its worst moment of the year: Antonelli and George Russell finished off the podium for the first time, while McLaren achieved a double with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
But Antonelli responded as only the great ones do, in qualifying, he took his third pole position of the year, in the race, despite a hesitant start (a problem that has plagued the Italian this season) and some issues with downshifts, he managed to recover and hold off Norris's final attack to cross the line 3.264 seconds ahead of the Briton.
"For me, that was his best race to date, it reminds me of his karting and Formula 4 days," declared Wolff. The team principal, however, wanted to take responsibility away from the driver for the poor start: "It's not his fault at all, the mistakes today and yesterday were the team's, we are not doing enough to give them the right tools, whether with the clutch or with the grip estimates. We are the only ones who haven't solved it in the last few races," he acknowledged.
Wolff is aware that Mercedes' advantage is no longer what it was in the first races: "The margins are not big enough to go out for a Sunday drive and win, that's why you can't afford to mess up the starts," he explained. Despite the difficulties, the leading team trusts that Antonelli's comeback in Miami proves that the car remains competitive.
The biggest challenge for Wolff now is to prevent success from going to his young prodigy's head: "That's the risk, that he gets carried away too quickly, but we know his parents will keep him grounded. I think it's amazing what he's achieving in these few races. We've given him a very good car and a decent engine, but the way he's managing to capitalize on that every weekend is special. No one expected this streak," the Austrian stated.
With 18 races still to be contested, Antonelli leads the championship solidly. Miami was his test by fire and he passed it.