Toto Wolff made a promise to Lewis Hamilton (Image: Getty)
pledged not to try to bring to while was with the team. The Silver Arrows’ boss pushed hard to get the four-time world champion on board last summer but to no avail. Hamilton’s exit left Wolff in a problematic spot last season.
The legendary Brit’s move to opened a seismic gap in ’ driver line-up, but the team’s middling on-track performance made them a hard sell to drivers who would have previously jumped at the chance to join the Brackley-based squad. Fernando Alonso and were touted as options for , but both were overlooked as launched an all-or-nothing bid to bring Verstappen to Brackley.
Despite regular chats with Jos Verstappen, he was ultimately unsuccessful, and the 27-year-old opted to remain with for the remainder of the ground effect era.
As revealed by the cameras, the 2024 silly season was Wolff’s first chance to chase after Verstappen’s signature. “I haven’t talked to him because I promised Lewis not to talk to him,” the chief said during a conversation caught in the latest season of Drive to Survive. “But I will have the conversation now.”
After failing to lure Verstappen to Brackley, Wolff’s options were limited. Rather than coughing up the money needed to beat Williams, Sauber and Alpine to the signing of Sainz, looked internally to find Hamilton’s successor.
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Max Verstappen was Mercedes’ number one target last season (Image: Getty)
And so, Kimi Antonelli was promoted to partner for the 2025 season, despite only being halfway through his rookie Formula Two campaign at the time of his signing. This created a whirlwind of hype around the 18-year-old Italian starlet.
“I don’t feel like his replacement,” Antonelli told ahead of his F1 debut in Melbourne next weekend. “I just feel like a F1 driver. But it’s such a great opportunity.
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“I am really grateful for the trust and opportunity gave me. But at the same time, it is a big responsibility as well because I am racing for , top team, and so they’ve got some expectations as well, of course. I am just going to try to make the best out of this.”
Antonelli will no doubt be feeling the pressure. Not since with in 2007 has a rookie stepped onto the grid with potentially race-winning machinery. The Bologna-born racer has unlimited potential but will need time and patience to evolve into a future star of the sport.