Toto Wolff: FIA rule change ‘means nothing’ for Kimi Antonelli’s future

Kimi Antonelli and the Mercedes badge

Toto Wolff has said the FIA decision to open the door to 17-year-olds to race in F1 “means nothing” for Mercedes’ rising star Kimi Antonelli.

The FIA’s announcement last week that 17-year-olds would be allowed to race provided they are given clearance was linked to a potential early entry for Antonelli, currently 17, to race in F1 but Wolff said the two are unrelated.

Toto Wolff dismisses Kimi Antonelli FIA rule change theory

Antonelli is currently competing in his debut F2 season but with one Mercedes seat free next year, he is already being talked about as a candidate for an F1 drive.

That potential debut was made easier last week when the FIA said “at the sole discretion” of the governing body, a driver could compete before their 18th birthday provided they had “demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition.”

While Antonelli is sixth in this year’s F2 championship heading into Barcelona, Mercedes would feel confident the Italian would fit the bill but Wolff has dismissed the rule change having an impact on Antonelli’s future.

“It means nothing,” he told media including PlanetF1.com in Spain. “I think the FIA has taken a standpoint, saying we don’t want to have a hard limit on a particular age because it could be the fact that young men could be fast tracked if their success is outstanding.

“So in a way that wasn’t to allow Antonelli, that was more to change something in the regulations, in the World Motor Sport Council. That anyway was at the discretion of the president before so for us, it doesn’t make a big difference.

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“Kimi is doing F2, is doing the TPC (Testing of Previous Car) testing. He’s learning, he’s developing, he’s making mistakes. All of that together and that is the current status so there wasn’t an acute need to put him in a car.”

Antonelli turns 18 in August and Wolff said that does allow them to use him in an FP1 session this year should they wish to do so.

Alongside Wolff was Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur who said that age was not the crucial factor but instead the maturity of the driver.

“It’s more a matter of maturity for me and this is more linked to the guy then to the age,” Vasseur, who worked with the likes of Lewis Hamilton when the soon-to-be-Ferrari driver was young, said. “You have a driver who is very young, very mature and some that are 30 and they are still not mature.”

If Antonelli were to arrive in F1 this year, it would most likely be at Williams but Logan Sargeant, who Antonelli would replace” said that was “definitely just a rumour.”

“People know how to push media. That’s for sure,” he added.