Sky pundit hints at Mercedes boss EGO over F1 driver decision

Former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve has suggested that there is more at play than just driver ability when it comes to Toto Wolff deciding on Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes replacement.

The Brackley-based team are searching for the seven-time world champion’s successor, with Hamilton set to join Ferrari ahead of 2025.

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Since the start of the 2024 campaign, several names have been mentioned in the running to take the vacant seat at the Silver Arrows.

One of those drivers that has been rumoured has been the man Hamilton is set to replace, Carlos Sainz, however, it appears that Mercedes are heading in another direction.

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Jacques Villeneuve hints at Toto Wolff ego

Teenage sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who currently races in Formula 2 with Prema and is Mercedes junior, now appears to be the focus of Wolff’s search after recent comments made by the team chief.

Former champion Jacques Villeneuve believes that Antonelli will indeed get the seat, pointing to Wolff’s ego as a potential factor.

“We don’t know much about contracts,” Villeneuve said on Sky Sports.

“Mercedes are not really an open door. It’s Antonelli’s team, that’s the future. He’s been prepped for it and Toto will not have it any other way, there’s ego in there.

“He will prove the world that he was right, that when Antonelli was 12 he knew that he was a future champion.”

Antonelli currently sits sixth in the F2, and recently tested a 2022 Mercedes F1 car at Silverstone alongside George Russell and Mick Schumacher.

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