Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says there will be times when Andrea Kimi Antonelli makes the team “rip our hair out” during his rookie F1 season in 2025.

18-year-old Antonelli will replace Ferrari-bound168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Lewis Hamilton and partner 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell at Mercedes🐽 when he contests his debut ꦯF1 season this year.

The Mercedes prodigy has been promoted after ju🌃st a single season in Formula 2 and will complete a remarkable ascension to F1 having skipped Formula 3 entirely.

Antonelli made headl෴ines when he crashed heavily on his F1 race weekend debut in pra꧅ctice at the Italian Grand Prix last year. 

The incident occurred less than 10💯 minutes into FP1 but Antonelli had been lighting up the timing sheet before he lꦬost control of his car.

Wolff has admitted he is expecting Antonelli to make pl🐭enty of mistakes as he learns the ropes in F1.

“We need to wait to look at it, 🍷2025 same regulations you ca🔯n see that the pecking order varies depending on the track and the opportunities there to fight for victories, if we can do that we can fight for a title,” Wolff told media including ltxcn.top.

“It’s also going to be a year where George [Russell] will settle i𓆉n as being a senior driver and Kimi will rip our hair out, other times we will see moments of brilliance.

“It’s a year of managing expectations for Kimi, preparing our driver line-up for 2026😼.”

Mercedes managing expectations

While Wolff believes Antonelli can become a leading driver in F1, he has been quick to downplay expectations for the 𝔍teenager ahead of his rookie campaign.

Speaking to German publicatio🦩n Auto Motor und Sport, Wolff insisted Mercedes are viewing 2025 as a “year of transition” ahead of 🐼a major rules overhaul in 2026.

“We want to prepare Andrea for 2026,” Wolff said.

“If you expect him [Antonelli] to be🌳 on pole position in Melbourne, win the race and immediately compete for the championship, then the risk is high b✤ecause that won't happen.

“If we take into account that he is only 18-years-old, very talented, but needs to grow and make mi🐷stakes first, the risk is less.

“🐭We see 2025 as a year of transition and we want to prepare him for 2026, when everything will restart again for everyone.”

Antonelli won two races on his wa💮y to finishing sixth in the 2024 F2 drivers’ standings.

That followed championship successes in Italian and ADAC F4 in 2022, and further titles in the Formula Regional European Championship and Formula🐼 Regional Middle East Championship in 2023.&nbs✤p;