2025 Formula 1 Season: Bottas to Mentor Rookie Antonelli - Wolff
Feb.10 - One of Valtteri Bottas' roles in 2025 will be to mentor Formula 1 rookie and Toto Wolff protege, Kimi Antonelli.
Having lost his Audi-owned Sauber seat, the Finn was snapped up by his former boss Wolff to serve as the primary Mercedes reserve driver this year.
The appointment not only shuffled Mick Schumacher out of the role, but also leapfrogged another existing Mercedes reserve, 23-year-old Frederic Vesti.
The Dane admits he was already frustrated that 18-year-old Antonelli was appointed as Lewis Hamilton's successor. "There are five rookies in Formula 1 this season," Vesti told the Danish broadcaster DR, "and I've beaten four of them in F2.
"It's incredibly frustrating to sit on the outside and look in on people I don't feel deserve it as much," he added. "But it gives me motivation, because it's also proof that I really can do it."
Team boss Wolff thinks it's a golden opportunity for Mercedes to be able to leverage the experience of proven race winner Bottas.
"Part of Valtteri's job will be to look after Kimi," he said. "To be there, to coach him, to constantly keep an eye on what is happening on the track."
Despite Antonelli's very young age, Wolff is determined not only that the Italian is the right replacement for Ferrari-bound Hamilton, but that he will be given time to shine.
"I couldn't repeat the mistake I made with (Max) Verstappen, who ended up at Red Bull," the Austrian told La Repubblica newspaper.
"Preparations with Kimi are going well but they started many, many years ago. I will keep him under my umbrella as long as it is necessary. And Kimi will learn from Valtteri but also George Russell.
"George is not mentioned enough," Wolff added. "We have an experienced driver who has won races and then we have this new up-and-coming talent. At the same time, Lewis is going his own way, looking for something new. I think it was refreshing for both sides.
"When I discussed Kimi with the CEO, he said to me 'This is so exciting - let's start working with the next generation'."
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Bottas' experience & feedback should definitely help Antonelli, & I'm sure he'll be given time to improve as a driver even if he'll probably struggle at first due to his limited single-seater experience & consequently limited readiness to compete in F1 yet.
The F1 train had more or less already left for Vesti a little while ago, so Antonelli's full-time promotion & Bottas' team return were the final nail in the coffin, if anything.
Im not so sure he will help KA very much , VBs head is very much still as an active racing driver I.E very selfish, all drivers are, not a retired driver, If the cars good , theyll expect KA to be within 3 tenths of GR, otherwise hell be a failure, as Merc want a Top 3 finish this year as a Minumum id say, and with GRs contract up this year, they need KA to be a Star from the start Imo, but either way not long till we find out....
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.