Kimi Antonelli is on a winning streak once more after taking victory at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP last weekene, although Team Principal Toto Wolff is feeling the stress.
Although he has won 8 of the 14 races this 2026 F1 season, the 20-year-old still has areas to work on.
Wolff stresses over track limits with Mercedes F1 star Antonelli
Midway through the 2026 Spanish GP, Antonelli was on two strikes for track limits. It has been a problem throughout the campaign, with a penalty coming at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP post-race for it. Ultimately it did not cost him anything as he retired.
“You know, that’s just Kimi. He can’t hit the white lines. We had to drum it into his head that he shouldn’t go over the white lines.
This isn’t the first time for the Mercedes driver. In Monza during a rookie FP1 run in 2024, he was going to the absolute limit and crashed the car early in the session.
“Even after Monza [FP1 in 2024], he still went over the white lines and chanced the car. And the same with track limits. At a certain stage, I said to him, don’t you see out of the car?
Maybe that’s what makes him so quick
Wolff continues that the 2026 F1 Spanish GP was one and the same as Antonelli brushed the outside wall approaching braking at turn 7. He admits that this time around, they laughed when Antonelli asked to check the car.
The Team Principal jokes that his youngest driver is giving him grey hairs. Given the great performance at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP, Wolff has given up worrying; he says maybe pushing the track limits is what makes Antonelli so quick.
“Do you need to see how high up you have those track limit things? And so we had a laugh about it. And today, six laps to the end or whatever it was, he says, check the car.
“I just brushed the wall. ‘What? Yeah’, so he’s causing us grey hair.
“But I just tell him, you know, maybe he’s like this and maybe that’s what’s making him so quick.”
One race at a time in F1 2026
Heading into the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP next weekend, the Italian holds an 81-point lead over George Russell and is in a commanding position in the Drivers’ Championship.
Speaking after the 2026 Spanish GP, Toto Wolff praised Kimi Antonelli for his approach and taking things one event at a time, instesf of not looking too far ahead at the F1 championship.
“I promise you he’s not thinking about it.
“The way this kid is able to compartmentalise and be the young kid and then get into the car and be the mature racing driver.
“That’s why if Kimi says to himself, ‘I’m not thinking about the championship’, he’s not thinking about the championship. And we are also trying, the parents and myself, to say this is not finished.
“There are black swan events, they can come and you’re losing something out of your hand when you didn’t think it was possible to lose.
“He’s not going to think about it.”
