Wolff praises ‘faultless’ Antonelli drive at Interlagos

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has hailed the podium-winning drive of Kimi Antonelli at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, after the rookie fended off title-chasing Max Verstappen in the closing stages.

Antonelli registered his best Grand Prix finish on Sunday, crossing the line second to Lando Norris at Interlagos. The result continued a return to form following a difficult European leg of the season.

Asked if this was the Italian’s most complete weekend to date, Wolff said: “I think all weekend it was strong, from the get-go. It's good to see. Maybe it was coming to a track that he didn't know.

“It's a bit easier. Expectations. Expectations are maybe lower.

“Maybe pressure is not as high as some of the [European races], and then the execution was faultless at the end. You know, being able to fend off, fight off Max on the newer, fresher tyre, that was really strong and a testament as to what is to come.”

As to why Antonelli has found form away from Europe, Wolff added: “I think it's a development. Next year he will come to these tracks that he knows without expecting to kill it. And that's the learning year, the year that we always expected to come with all the ups and downs. Today is an up, definitely. A good moment. There will be more difficult ones.

“Let's see the next three races. I think we're seeing the young boy becoming the young man and performing.”

With Antonelli second and George Russell fourth in Brazil, Mercedes took a stride towards securing second in the Teams’ Standings, with Red Bull falling 32 points back, and Ferrari 36, although Wolff remained pragmatic when assessing the table.

“You can see how quickly it goes,” he said. “You have a weekend where you have a double DNF like [Ferrari] had and the other teams scoring strong enough points. The 30-point swing, you can have it in the other direction too in any of the three races.

“So, we just need to keep both feet on the ground, hopefully consolidate the gap and just take it day by day, weekend by weekend.”

While Antonelli was battling in the closing stages, Russell was defending from Oscar Piastri to preserve his top-four result.

“That is how Formula 1 should be, fighting for positions whether you are the back guy or the defending guy,” said Wolff. “I’m really proud of the job both of them did. Kimi’s P2 is obviously a shining light here, but George defending from Piastri in exactly the same way is something I enjoyed witnessing.

“Energy management was great. Between the engine guys, the race engineers and the driver we tried to optimise energy harvesting and energy deployment in the best possible way, and use all we had on the main straight and saving energy in the other parts and that was a big part of us not losing that race.”