Wolff has been steadfast in his help of Antonelli, who he fast-tracked into Components 1 this yr on the age of 18 as a substitute for Lewis Hamilton, following the seven-time champion’s transfer to Ferrari.
Final weekend on the Dutch Grand Prix, Wolff successfully confirmed that each Russell and Antonelli would keep on the workforce subsequent season.
However Antonelli has had an up-and-down first season in F1.
He took pole for the dash race in Miami in Might, following that up by beating Russell in qualifying for the grand prix as properly.
Antonelli scored a maiden podium in Canada in June, however misplaced confidence following a change within the Mercedes rear suspension design.
He stated he felt higher within the automobile as soon as Mercedes reverted to their earlier suspension for the Hungarian Grand Prix two occasions in the past, however has nonetheless struggled for consistency.
Antonelli made an error in crashing out with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in Zandvoort, and adopted that with one other messy race at Monza, the place along with his different incidents, he additionally spent six laps passing the Alpine of Pierre Gasly after his pit cease.
Wolff stated Antonelli wanted “a clear weekend”, including that meant “nearly to not carry an excessive amount of trauma of earlier errors into the subsequent session or into the subsequent weekend as a result of that’s baggage.
“You are not going to assault the nook arduous when you’ve been off there earlier than and it completed your session, or possibly you are not attacking a driver that shouldn’t be in your method like Gasly as a result of he had this case with Leclerc.
“Kimi should not lose even a second on Gasly.”
Requested how to do that, Wolff stated: “Simply releasing him up. Liberating him up. You already know, he is an awesome driver. He has this unbelievable capability and pure expertise. He is a racer. It is all there. However we have to do away with the ballast.”
