Toto Wolff has always shouldered the blame for Andrea Kimi Antonelli ’s huge crash on his first Formula 1 outing last year, with the Mercedes team boss admitting that dropping the teenager into the car at his home grand prix might not have been the best call.

Antonelli’s long-awaited debut lasted just 10 minutes before he crashed out of FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix . A huge shunt at Parabolica ended his running prematurely and left question marks, externally at least, over his suitability as a candidate to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton in 2025.

Mercedes, and Wolff, kept faith and have been rewarded by some impressive Antonelli performances so far this season – as well as some errors that come with the territory of being an F1 rookie.

Taking sprint pole in Miami had been

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