{"id":941616,"date":"2026-10-26T14:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941616\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T14:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:32:09","slug":"wolff-hails-antonellis-us-grand-prix-demolition-as-the-italians-best-race-yet-formula-one-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941616\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolff hails Antonelli\u2019s US Grand Prix demolition as the Italian\u2019s \u2018best race yet\u2019 | Formula One 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has paid tribute to his driver Kimi Antonelli, who all but closed out his first Formula One world championship with a victory at the US Grand Prix<\/a> that Wolff described as the Italian\u2019s best race yet.<\/p>\n

After the win at the Circuit of the Americas Wolff was also at pains to point out the considerable efforts made by a host of others in bringing the young Italian to having one hand on a record-breaking title.<\/p>\n

After his victory in Austin, Antonelli needs to finish only ninth or better at the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend. He could finish outside the points as long as he is also in front of his teammate George Russell and Ferrari\u2019s Lewis Hamilton, the only two other drivers still mathematically in the running. If he seals it in Mexico City he will become F1\u2019s youngest world champion at just 20 years old.<\/p>\n

His victory at the Circuit of the Americas from pole position with a controlled, dominant run largely at the front of the field, was his ninth of the season and has moved him to within touching distance of the title, and Wolff heralded it as Antonelli\u2019s best drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Kimi\u2019s side obviously the main headline is that [it is] for me the best race that he\u2019s delivered so far,\u201d said Wolff. \u201cGetting off the start with the inferior tyre and then controlling it at all times. Exceptional. I think he\u2019s outperformed the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if it matched Antonelli\u2019s superb drive from 19th to victory at the Italian Grand Prix, Wolff acknowledged that that too was special but insisted he felt the win in Austin was up there with that drive and Antonelli concurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonza was a super special one and one that I will remember forever,\u201d Antonelli said. \u201cBut this one probably in terms of execution was better, because the way we built up and the way we built the performance throughout the weekend was very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolff believed it was all the more impressive given how difficult Antonelli\u2019s rookie season had been in 2025 when at times he struggled with the car and made mistakes that caused some to question whether Mercedes had been correct to promote him to the team so soon. Doubts he felt Antonelli had comprehensively silenced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many people that said last year after nine races without points, he shouldn\u2019t be in a Mercedes. People in other teams that said he shouldn\u2019t even be in Formula One<\/a>,\u201d said Wolff. \u201cAll of that now is extremely satisfying to see what he\u2019s able to deliver, how he\u2019s working with the team, with Bono [race engineer, Peter Bonnington] and yielding the results. But it wasn\u2019t an easy road.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been 30 or more years that I\u2019ve tried to understand racing drivers\u2019 brains and I still don\u2019t know what has happened over the winter. His ability to process and deliver something that\u2019s outstanding which we didn\u2019t see coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimi Antonelli celebrates winning the US Grand Prix. Photograph: Bryn Lennon\/Formula 1\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mercedes took Antonelli on as part of their driver development programme when the Italian was 12 years old and have supported him through karting and in the feeder series to F1 since then.<\/p>\n

Wolff was the driving force behind bringing Antonelli into the team to take Lewis Hamilton\u2019s seat when the British driver left for Ferrari. Wolff was insistent he felt the young Italian was ready to step up, however he maintained that Antonelli\u2019s success should not be viewed as having come from nowhere but rather was the product of many years and the input of many people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t the one responsible for it,\u201d said Wolff. \u201cIt was teamwork. It was our junior team around [Mercedes\u2019 driver development advisor] Gwen [Lagrue] that discovered him when he was 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cCredit to that group that have developed him over the many years. I read an interview [with Ferrari vice chairman] Piero Ferrari last week where he said: \u2018What a talent, he reminds me of Niki Lauda\u2019. And I\u2019m thinking, people don\u2019t get that this is the work of nine years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe development of nine years, the hardship over nine years, the integration of the team, the working with the engineers, millions in the development of his career, of his ability, of his character together with his parents. It\u2019s just not that it landed like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has paid tribute to his driver Kimi Antonelli, who all but closed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-941616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}