Following Kimi Antonelli’s sixth win of the 2026 F1 campaign at the Belgian GP on Sunday, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff shared his thoughts on the change in the Italian’s mentality since last season and whether his W17 was battling any underlying issues while chasing and overtaking Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in the second stint of his race.
After setting the fastest time in qualifying, Antonelli started on pole in the 44-lap race. Although he lost position to Max Verstappen into Turn 2, he gained that back into Turn 5.
As George Russell endured a DNF and the race resumed after a Safety Car period, the 19-year-old ran a standard M-H one-stop strategy. He dived into the pits at the end of Lap 18 to cover the Dutchman and retain position.
While Leclerc managed to gain track position by pitting under the Virtual Safety Car, Antonelli eventually closed a gap of three seconds down to retake the lead with just under 10 laps to go. He slowly dropped the Ferrari out of overtake mode to take his sixth victory of the season.
Wolff on how the change in Antonelli’s attitude in 2026 F1 season has surprised Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli had failed to make it out of Q1 and crossed the line in sixteenth place at the 2025 Belgian GP. A year later, he has just secured his sixth win of the campaign at Spa-Francorchamps and is currently leading the Drivers’ Championship by 45 points.
Speaking in a print media session after Sunday’s race, Toto Wolff shared his insights on the noticeable change in Antonelli’s mentality in such a short period of time and admitted that they are all astonished to see the massive step forward the F1 sophomore has taken in 2026.
Acknowledging that Antonelli’s maiden campaign was a mixed bag—as they had anticipated beforehand—and the pressure he found himself under both on and off the track after the winter break, the Austrian revealed that the way the Italian has transformed his approach to racing has taken the Brackley-based team by surprise.
“We’re all surprised.
“I think the first season came as expected—great moments where his talent shined through and then moments which were very difficult, you know, the long spell of lack of results in the middle of the season.
“And then after the winter also as expected he knew the environment, he knew the pressures, he knew the demands of the team on the technical side, on the marketing side, knowing the tracks that we would go racing. But what was not expected is the serenity and structure that he brought into his game.”
What has allowed Antonelli’s talent to shine so early in his career
Toto Wolff further elaborated on how calm and collected Kimi Antonelli has remained in the post-session debriefs so far in the 2026 F1 season irrespective of the results and that he has concentrated his efforts on solving the problem at hand.
Reiterating that Antonelli’s stoic attitude is a new development, the Mercedes team boss highlighted how tempered the 19-year-old’s expressions were not only when he won the Belgian GP but also when he experienced misfortunes at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and Silverstone. Additionally, he reflected on how the Bologna native already has the sagaciousness to recognise that mechanical failures are part and parcel of a technical sport like F1.
Maintaining how impressive this mindset is, Wolff claimed that this unflustered approach has helped Antonelli set himself apart in only his second season in the sport.
“You know, with Kimi [Antonelli], whether the session was good or bad you wouldn’t see a difference in emotions in the debrief. It is absolutely transactional—what is the problem, how do we solve it, how do we move on.
“And that is new. I think that’s why it’s almost when he wins you can’t see this absolute excitement that a 19-year-old would almost have and the same time, you know, he fails to deliver results in Barcelona when we had the car stoppage or even in Silverstone, he comes back in and he was the one saying to the team this is a mechanical sport, these things can happen.
“19-years-old, you know, that is very, very impressive to see. And I think this mindset and this attitude is probably one of the main drivers that has allowed the talent to shine so early in his career.”
Wolff reveals if Antonelli’s car had any issues after the VSC at the 2026 Belgian GP
In terms of Kimi Antonelli taking quite a few laps to catch up to and overtake Leclerc following the Virtual Safety Car period at the 2026 F1 Belgian GP and whether his W17 was encountering any issues, Toto Wolff responded that he was not sure.
While he acknowledged that the Mercedes’s pace looked slower than usual after the restart, the 54-year-old stated that they had reassessed their situation upon losing a position to Leclerc. He emphasised how precise Antonelli’s lap times were and that they were chipping away at the gap incrementally to preserve the hard tyres until the end of the race.
“No, I don’t know because, yeah, you’re right, it looked like we were lacking the pace actually to catch up. But it was the VSC, it was an unfortunate situation, maybe we just needed to settle down, assess and say, ‘okay, this is the reality now, what am I doing to catch up?’
“And then it was actually spectacular, it was one tenths. James [Allison] and I were chatting and he said, ‘we’re coming, we’re chipping away one tenths a lap’.
“I mean, the preciseness—one tenths, one tenths, then two tenths, one tenths, two tenths—and driving the car and the tyres just in the way to make sure that they wouldn’t go off at the end.”
