Wolff reveals Hamilton replacement ‘PROBLEM’ at Mercedes

Toto Wolff has reacted to Kimi Antonelli’s FP1 crash as the Mercedes boss reveals the ‘problem’ with Lewis Hamilton’s replacement.

The Italian youngster made his F1 debut during practice on Friday at the Italian Grand Prix, with the team quickly making a decision on his future the following day.

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Antonelli was parachuted straight to Formula 2 this year after an impressive career in Italian F4 and Formula Regional, and has since acquired two victories in the series.

The 18-year-old has also completed a series of tests for Mercedes, only increasing the team’s confidence in the star.

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Toto Wolff reacts to Kimi Antonelli F1 crash

Antonelli did not get to complete much of FP1 before pushing too hard and crashing into the barriers at Parabolica.

Whilst the Mercedes star climbed out of the car unharmed, he retreated to the garage after causing severe damage to the car with the mechanics in a hurry to repair it in time for George Russell in FP2.

Speaking at the press conference after the session, Wolff gave a supportive assessment of Antonelli’s performance despite the incident.

“He’s a rookie, he’s very young. We are prepared to invest into his future,” Wolff said.

“These moments they will happen and they will continue to happen next year." he continued.

READ MORE: Hamilton replacement CRASHES as F1 debut rocked by red flag

“What we’ve seen today was we’d rather have a problem in slowing him down than making him faster.

"What we’ve seen from one and a half laps is astonishing."

“A strong driver needs to recover from these things and cope with the pressure and obviously this weekend wasn’t easy for him.”

“You have all these shenanigans around you in Monza, we tell him [he’s] the kid that’s being hyped, first time in a Mercedes, and it must be a heavy burden, but if he wants to be champion one day he needs to cope with that and I have no doubt that he can and he will.”

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