Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff admits that Kimi Antonelli’s maiden Formula 1 victory in the Chinese Grand Prix was “one of the best moments I’ve had in F1”.
Antonelli claimed his first victory in Sunday’s 56-lap race at the Shanghai International Circuit, having become the youngest driver in F1 history to claim pole position for a Grand Prix the day before.
Having only briefly lost the lead on the opening lap and suffering a small lock-up late on, the 19-year-old Italian was in total control, finishing more than five seconds clear of Mercedes team mate, George Russell.
The pair were joined on the podium by Antonelli’s race engineer Pete Bonnington, as well as Lewis Hamilton, whose move to Ferrari at the end of 2024 paved the way for Antonelli to move up to F1 last season.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in F1 but that podium now was probably one of the best moments I’ve had in F1,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
“The three of them, with Bono [Bonnington] right in the middle, who has been with Lewis forever and basically taking over Kimi and making Kimi what he is today. To be honest, it’s rarely that I’m overwhelmed but that is such a moment.
“I think it’s [the first victory] maybe come earlier than I thought because last year we said that it’s going to be a difficult year with many ups and downs, and mistakes.
“Then bang, second race [this season], he’s controlled it from the front, driven very well today. So he’s probably a little bit better than the trajectory that I thought.”
Antonelli has enjoyed an encouraging start to his sophomore season, finishing runner-up in the Australian season-opener and taking fifth in the China Sprint.
But his season has not been without incident, suffering poor starts in both races and even collecting a 10-second penalty in the Sprint for an opening lap collision.
It has prompted Antonelli’s father, Marco, to suggest that it might be too early for his teenage son to be challenging for a maiden world title.
“I don’t know honestly because Kimi is young and I think he’s not perfect in this moment,” he told Sky Sports F1 when asked about his son’s Championship chances. “He’s a good driver, of course, but experience is very important and I think George is a very super driver with a lot of experience. It’s difficult to beat him.
“The championship is long and this race Kimi did a good job but George was blocked behind the Ferraris [during the race].”
Wolff echoed those comments, suggesting that like his maiden season, which included two podiums but several mistakes, Antonelli will have ups and downs again in 2026.
“You have to keep your feet on the ground, he’s had a great race. George was blocked at the beginning so they weren’t head-to-head,” added Wolff.
“He will make mistakes and will have great days like today and all of that is going to add to hopefully being a World Champion one day. But we shouldn’t be carried away with World Championship [talk], it’s no good for him and not good for expectations of anyone.”
