Toto Wolff made no effort to hide all his admiration for Kimi Antonelli and his performance at the Italian Grand Prix of Formula 1, saying that the Italian ‘walked on water’ to achieve victory.
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The Italian had to start from the back of the pack precisely in his home race due to an engine change. However, he delivered a breathtaking performance in Monza, managing to climb all the positions to finish in first place and increase his lead in the standings.
“It had been some time since I saw a driver with that level of energy, or rather, that mentality or behavioral pattern, and I knew that was his mission today: to win the race. I spoke with his father yesterday as well, and he noticed the same thing. These are moments when you can see, as the weekend progresses through the sessions, that something special is about to happen,” said Wolff.
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“It is still a motorsport, so things can change quickly. We try to anticipate possible scenarios, and both have been excellent in understanding and embracing the team aspect, which is difficult for a driver who is aiming for victory, who really wants to win; this especially applies to Kimi in Monza and to George [Russell], who needs to keep scoring to stay in the fight,” he continued.
“They have always raced cleanly. Sometimes, we thought: ‘it’s clean, but it’s very tight.’ So, we will talk about this situation as another element to define how we want to race in the future. But I think it was worth showing the team’s competitive spirit and allowing them to have this duel,” he concluded.
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