Mercedes saw its financial performance accelerate throughout the F1 2024 season despite slipping to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. Accounts for the 2024 calendar year reveal the Brackley-based operation enjoyed a 16 per cent increase in income over the previous year, totalling £636 million ($858m). https://www.planetf1.com/news/mercedes-net-worth-finances-f1-2024
MS preparation test to join Mercedes. Nice article. Inside Michael Schumacher's controversial GP2 test https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/inside-michael-schumacher-controversial-gp2-test/
Where is the article saying that this performance increase is due to the early announcement of Hamilton leaving ?
Russell 184 points Kimi 64. Emilia Romagna = 0, Monaco = 0, Spain = 0 Hungary 1, NED = 0, Spa = 0, GB = 0, Austria = 0 8 races 1 point. All European rounds. Tracks in many cases he has seen/driven. Toto is all in on this one. Max-esque he is not. Hadjar and Bortoleti far exceed him in the rookie class this year. He should or does need a year in Jr team. Nicely summarized here by Jacques Villenueve - Something SKY has not posted on its own website. Maybe Kimi has hit the bottom now. https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1080571/1/jacques-villeneuve-says-f1-too-much-kimi-antonelli-after-latest-incident
Imola = engine failure Monaco = car terrible for both drivers, 0 points for both Spain = engine failure Austria = his fault UK = rear ended by hadjar Spa = bad race Hungary = bad race Zandvoort = good race till the crash So we established that Vileneuve can read a wikipedia page. Half the things he has an issue with are not related to Kimi's performance. Did Jacques forget he himself had 13k KMS of testing before he started an F1 race? Kimi clearly has potential.
Mercedes is defending Kimi too much Image Unavailable, Please Login Kimi Antonelli was fertile ground for Jacques Villeneuve in his role as a Sky Sports F1 pundit at Zandvoort, first for being knocked out in Q2 in qualifying and then for crashing into Charles Leclerc in the race and picking up two penalties that dropped Antonelli out of the points. The qualifying criticism was harsh, given Antonelli’s pace was actually competitive compared to George Russell and he had responded well to beaching his car in the gravel in FP1 and missing most of that first session. Unfortunately, though, Antonelli’s costly misjudgement in the race ruined what had been turning into a very good drive. And Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had to wheel out the same ‘he’s young, he’ll make mistakes, he’ll improve’ arguments he’s had to resort to several times this season. It’s not always been because of clattering into other drivers, sometimes it’s been because of a lack of pace. But Mercedes has had to defend Antonelli more than would be ideal even for a young rookie, and he’s not been fast enough or scored enough points to get away with the odd error. At the current rate, there’s a very real chance Antonelli gets pipped to seventh in the championship by Williams driver Alex Albon - who is now level with him on 64 points. https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/10-things-we-learned-from-f1s-dutch-grand-prix/
Open critical comment by Toto. Again he would have been better off at another team or reserve. This is major change even though Toto still voices 'support' what ever that statement is worth. --Kimi Antonelli was "underwhelming" at the Italian Grand Prix, says Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. The Italian rookie, 19, finished ninth in the race after receiving a black-and-white flag for persistent track limits offences and a five-second penalty and penalty point on his licence for running Williams driver Alex Albon off the track. That came after an off cost him most of the second practice session, although he recovered to qualify just behind team leader George Russell. Antonelli is eighth in the drivers' championship, four points behind Albon and 128 adrift of Russell, who is fourth in the standings. Wolff said: "Underwhelming this weekend. Underwhelming. You can't put the car in the gravel bed and expect to be there. All of the race was underwhelming. "It doesn't change anything on my support and confidence in his future because I believe he's going to be very, very, very good. But today was… underwhelming."--
It's a problem of Toto's own making. He insisted Kimi should be at the top team immediately. Doing the thing Red Bull didn't do with Max. Demoting Kimi now will forever linger over his career no matter what he does. Toto's ridiculous hype when Kimi was still in regional (!!!) F4 put a lot of unnecessary eyes on Kimi and every move he's made. Correct way of doing things (and there was an opening for this) was Sainz on a 2 year contract at Mercedes (he'd have taken it), Kimi 2 years at Williams (they'd be happy), then after 2 years put Kimi in the big boy seat.
Yes the solution to Toto's problem after LH departed was to hire a good pair of hands to stabilize the team and allow Kimi to grow. There were good choices but Toto had Max on the brain in terms of Kimi and his so called 'ability'. Kimi has not shown a full F1 potential as a Jr. He was fast in tests. Thats not racing. JV was correct in assessing how he drives. Like he is in F4. Fast is 1 thing. Good in F1 racing is quite another. They can and should demote him if needed. The team is more important than Kimi as young as he is. He is really young and if he cannot recover from a demotion he is not resilient enough for F1.
I guess Toto wanted to repeat what Ron Dennis did introducing Lewis Hamilton in F1 in 2007, after years chaperoning him in lower series. LH had been in the McLaren orbit from the age of 13. It was a success in his case, with Lewis hitting the ground running. Hamilton was older than Antonelli though.
Hamilton already had done GP2, it was not so suicide. Raikkonen and Verstappen did skip some formulas, but at least they started in lesser teams. Add that the Mercedes is not the best car in the world and you have an hostile enviroment for a rookie.
I remember it was a furore when Sauber applied for a Superlicence for Kimi Raikkonen, who had only done 23 races* in lower categories then, which was judged grossly insufficient. As for Max Verstappen, didn't he need some sort of exemption to obtain his Superlicence ? He was only 17*, and the bar had been set at 18. *I quote from memory, without checking first.
Exactly. Lewis was 23 I believe and did multiple seasons in F3 before moving to F2, and a HUGE amount of testing to properly prepare. He did very well. IIRC Kimi was on a race by race evaluation by the FIA and could pull the license at any moment. Schumacher was watching in Mugello testing and asked who this guy driving was, as he was very impressed. F1 changed the rules to 18 years old after Max signed on but couldn't do much as already granted him a license. But yes really puts it in perspective, immediately on the pace having done just 1 season of F3 and skipped F2 entirely. 1 year of car racing
What about there rumours about Hamilton returning at Mercedes, as early as next year, I keep seeing on the internet ? Toto Wolf unhappy about Kimi Antonelli, and Hamilton disappointed at Ferrari being the reasons behind that move? That's why, it is said, Toto Wolff delays renewing Russell and Antonelli's contracts. Any ideas about these rumours, or they another false flag ?
Toto isn't stupid. He knows Lewis is well past his sell by date, the last 3 years at mercedes proved as much. If Lewis leaves Ferrari end of the season, he'll be out of F1 as a driver for sure. That said I don't think Lewis will leave end of this year. He'll pocket another 100 million. Then he'll leave.
Actually sending Kimi to Williams and Sainz to Mercedes would make sense. I doubt that it will happen.
After seeing MaxBull chew through drivers, Toto didnt learn much did he. He had the good opportunity to actually develop Kimi. He chose otherwise. His Jr series record does not equal Charles, Russell or Oscar when they were pre F1 racing.
Its one of the worst decisions he's made so far. Stop thinking who is the next 'Max' and think about who that driver is now. His Jr series record did not say promote to F1 at all. There was no hurry. Inside Kimi is a racer, who needs some time. Thats it. Help him grow and continue to evaluate. Even 1 more year in a Jr setting would be good. Too late now. Openly criticized after Monza by Toto. Sorry that just shows what Toto did not do, not what Kimi is. The reliance in previously run F1 car tests does not equal racing. The machines used are not current and the tyres are not F1 spec for competition. Ask Oscar about getting used to the tires. That was one of the things he needed to address after last year.
