Martin Brundle has delivered his veꦬrdict on Kimi Antonelli’s first💖 F1 session in a Mercedes.

Antonelli crashed just minutes into FP1 on Friday - a dreadful start for the teen driveไr who is set to replace Lewis Hamilton next season as Mercedes’ new🍃 hope.

Toto Wolff reacted to Antonelli’s crashꦑ by insisting his faith remains ♚steadfast in the 18-year-old prodigy.

“Toto is doing the onl🐻y thing he can - to support his man,” Sky Sports’ Brundle said.

“They are not going to get Max Verstappen. It seems that they are going to use Antone♊lli, who is clearly a big star in the making.

“All they can do is mitigate.

“Sir Jackie Stewart, for many decades, has had 🦄an expression: ‘Puppy dogs will wet the carpet!’

“That’s more or less what Toto is 𒈔saying but in a more eloquent way.

“Antonelli is lucky that he’s got such an understanding team and boss around him✨, and that they believe i𒊎n him so much.

“Onwardsꩲ and upwards. He went straight back out to start pumping♊ in F2 times, which was impressive.”

After a routine trip to the medical centre on Friday after his FP1 crash, Antonelli returned🔥 to the track for Formula 🌜2 qualifying.

He qualified sixth for F2 action at🅷 Monza thi♈s weekend.

'Spotlight of F1' warning for Antonelli

Antonelli is expected🥀 to be named by Mercedes as the successor to Ferrari-bound Hamilton.

His entry into Formula 1 will make him the most highly-touted rookie since Hamilton and༒ Max Verstappen.

“He is, but you never know until they are under the spotlight of F1 when 😼they are measured in every way, every day,” Brundle s🌠aid.

“It’s like a flower growing. Sometimes the spotlight makes the flower grow taller, sometimes it w💛il✨ts them. You never know until they are in that situation.

“There have been drivers 💧who were sensation🧔al in karting and junior racing but got to F1 then didn’t deliver.

“Where he’s a lucky boy is that he will parachute into a front-runnin🃏g, grand prix-winning, perhaps championship-winning ꦰteam.

“That🔯 means you don’t go through years at the back of the grid, all the shunts, all the p💃ressure.”