Kimi Antonelli raced his first home Grand Prix at the recent Emilia-Romagna GP. He was aware of the additional pressure that comes with it and emphasized his intention to manage his energy as effectively as possible. However, this proved more challenging than anticipated – he admitted to feeling exhausted during the qualification. On the eve of the Monaco GP, Toto Wolff explains that he intends to better protect Antonelli in the future.
“This is a learning process,” Toto Wolff said during the FIA press conference in Monaco. “We realized last year that we made a mistake by letting him drive his very first free practice in Monza in front of the local crowd. He wanted to perform exceptionally well.” Antonelli made a careless mistake quite quickly and crashed George Russell‘s Mercedes into the wall at the Parabolica turn.
‘It proves how young he actually is’
“Imola was also too much – he (Antonelli) lives there, it’s his home circuit,” Wolff continued. “School, family, the local football club, all the people who have supported him throughout his career – everyone wanted something from him that weekend. He was completely overwhelmed by Friday. When I spoke to him on Saturday, he said he had no energy left. It just goes to show how young he actually is. He wants to thank everyone who has supported him over the years.”
“Antonelli doesn’t want to be rude to friends, family, fans, to anyone,” Wolff clarified. “That was the advice I eventually gave him; at some point, you have to be. You need to protect yourself a bit. On Sunday, you can hide in the technical room. Everything else takes a back seat. We, the whole family, realized that this was too much. But we won’t make that mistake a second time.”
