'Pi***d' Wolff To Sign Antonelli Not To Repeat Mistake He Made With Verstappen
F1Thursday, 18 April 2024 at 01:30
During a recent podcast appearance, F1 TV presenter Will Buxton suggested Toto Wolff will sign Andrea Kimi Antonelli due to huge regrets associated with past mistake.
Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff is at a crossroads at the moment. He has to make an important decision about the driver line-up for 2025.
Fernando Alonso is already out of the picture, having signed a deal with Aston Martin. So, the two remaining favorites are Carlos Sainz and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, assuming Max Verstappen stays with Red Bull.
Wolff stated that the triple World Champion was his priority and that he would wait for his decision, but it doesn't seem very likely that the 26-year-old would want to abandon the fastest car on the grid at the moment.
Formula 1 presenter Will Buxton suggested during his recent appearance on The Red Flags Podcast that he believes the Austrian team principal has already made his mind up:
"Antonelli is going to Mercedes, I think for me Toto has made his mind up."
"He wants Antonelli in the seat. Because he's pi***d, he is pi***d that he missed the opportunity to give Max the opportunity back in 2014. So you put Antonelli in the seat."
To give you a bit of context, the team principal has already had the chance to sign Verstappen. That was when the Dutchman was coming out of F3.
The Mercedes boss's problem was that his seats were occupied by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, both of whom had long-term contracts with the team.
Consequently, he couldn't offer Verstappen a lucrative deal like Red Bull, which put him into Toro Rosso (now RB) and brought him to the A team (Red Bull Racing) after just one year.
Toto Wolff feels Antonelli could be the next Verstappen and doesn't want to repeat the same mistake, which is why Buxton believes the 17-year-old would be prioritized over everyone else.
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