Toto Wolff points to unsung Mercedes mentor behind Kimi Antonelli's breakthrough success
Originally published by Crash.net
Toto Wolff has heaped praise on Kimi Antonelli's race engineer as a key part of the young driver's early success this year.
At just 19 years of age, Antonelli currently leads the F1 championship, with a recent run of form seeing take three back-to-back wins in China, Japan and Miami.
Now his Mercedes team boss has hailed the Italian's budding relationship engineer Pete 'Bono' Bonnington which he says is helping with Kimi's recent success.
Bonnington previously served as race engineer for Lewis Hamilton before he departed Mercedes for Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season.
Kimi Antonelli, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Pete Bonnington on the podium
© XPB Images
Prior to that he had worked with 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher, and now Toto Wolff has said his experience means he is like a 'mentor' to Antonelli.
And the Wolff also revealed that he came close to scolding Kimi on the radio during Miami but held back after being reassured by Bonnington.
"Now with Kimi, he has been a good mentor to him, but also a strong boss." he told RacingNews365.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff
© XPB Images
"He had two strikes with the track limits. I said to Bono, 'One more and I'm going to go on the radio'. And he said, 'No, no, you leave that to me'.
"That shows that he just knows how to connect with him, how to handle him, and that's good. It's been part of the success."
All eyes are on on Antonelli to take the championship fight throughout the season. Wolff has praised Antonelli for the leap he has made after a decent debut in 2025 which saw him finish 7th in the championship.
Speaking to media, including Crash.net, Wolff said: “When you look through his trajectory in karting and in the junior formulas, he was just outstanding.
Kimi Antonelli, Miami Grand Prix
“When you think about what we said last year, it’s exactly how he has performed and how he has developed. He’s had these great ups, these moments of brilliance, and then moments where he was allowed to make mistakes.
“We needed to calibrate and continue to mentor him, whilst having pressure on him, but he just takes it so well.
"He is able to analyse it, but then not overthink it. He compartmentalises it, ‘Ok, I made a mistake. I put it away’
“This year, at the start of the season, he has seen the grands prix, he has worked with the team, he knows the pressure that the media he puts upon him, but nevertheless, we just need to stay calm here, because such a success for such a young man at that stage, all of Italy will be on him.”