Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes promotion was not in Toto Wolff's plans, claims former F1 team principal

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff did not originally plan to promote Kimi Antonelli for the 2025 season, according to former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.

Antonelli spent just a year racing in Formula 2 before he was fast-tracked into one of Formula 1's biggest teams after being part of Mercedes' driver development programme.

Mercedes named the youngster as George Russell's new teammate following Lewis Hamilton's decision to swap the silver arrows for Ferrari.

The 19-year-old has struggled at times during his rookie season and is currently 138 points behind his teammate in the world championship standings.

Antonelli's notable incidents include a shunt in Monaco qualifying, a collision with Max Verstappen at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix, and a crash with Charles Leclerc at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of last month.

Mercedes 'took risk' with Antonelli promotion

The young Italian's struggles have led to questions as to whether Mercedes jumped the gun by throwing him straight into the Mercedes this season.

When asked whether Wolff would regret his decision, Steiner stated that he believes the Mercedes team principal had no real alternative following Hamilton's surprise move to Ferrari.

"I think that was not Toto’s plan," Steiner told Sports Mole. "I think Toto’s plan was to keep Kimi another year in F2, but then when Lewis left for Ferrari he was like, what do I do next?

"I cannot get a driver just for one year to put Kimi in, so I think he said, let’s take the risk and put Kimi in this year into F1 and jump a year of F2.

"A second year of F2 would have made him mature a little bit more, because when he came into it, he was only 18. He’s 19 now."

Steiner went on to add: "So I think if Toto’s choice would have been completely free, he would have kept him in F2 one more year and then brought him in next year. But sometimes your hand is forced, and he took the risk."

Steiner praises Antonelli's performance in Baku

After enduring a difficult period of races, Antonelli finished in fourth place in the recent Azerbaijan GP, representing his best result since achieving a third-placed finish in Canada.

Steiner admitted that he was pleased with how Antonelli performed around the streets of Baku, even if was unable to join his teammate on the podium.

"I’m actually very happy for him that he finished fourth in Baku because hopefully he can get his confidence back, because it’s all about that," Steiner said. "He has quite a few races where he didn’t perform, and that sometimes breaks you completely, especially if you’re this young.

"But he came back pretty strong in Baku, I was quite surprised. He didn’t do anything he shouldn’t be doing out on the racetrack.

"He let George by, realised George is faster than me at the moment. He’s got more experience, but I want to bring a result home."

Antonelli will look to build upon his performance in Baku when Formula 1 heads to another street circuit in Singapore next weekend.