Martin Brundle questions Mercedes’ handling of Kimi Antonelli amid F1 struggles

F1 commentator Martin Brundle has questioned whether Mercedes should have placed Kimi Antonelli in a midfield team to learn his trade, rather than fast-tracking him into a full-time race seat.

While Antonelli has shown flashes of brilliance during his rookie F1 season, he’s struggled in recent races.

Antonelli has scored points just once in the last seven races.

Poor reliability and generally struggling with the Mercedes W16 have contributed to Antonelli’s dip in results.

Mercedes teammate George Russell’s results have also dropped off, but the British driver has still finished in the top five in four of the previous seven races.

Antonelli’s rise through the ranks has been remarkable, spending just one year in Formula 2.

The 18-year-old was chosen over Carlos Sainz as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement for this year.

In his post-race F1 column for Sky Sports, Brundle suggested that Toto Wolff would be better off sending Antonelli to a midfield team, like they did with Russell at Williams, before giving him his chance at Mercedes.

“Mercedes had a weekend to forget, but George Russell did at least salvage a lonely fifth place 35 seconds off the lead,” Brundle wrote.

“We are used to them going well in such cooler conditions, and it doesn’t seem five minutes since he commanded the Canadian GP, and presumably they’ll be furiously evaluating and backtracking on all the changes made since then.

“Kimi Antonelli is having a torrid time in the sister Merc. He’s only scored points once in the last seven GPs (a podium in Canada) and it’s not too difficult to observe that he’s really feeling that pressure on his very young shoulders.

“He’s lucky because he’s effectively a protected species at the team and won’t be living in fear of his career like a Red Bull youngster, but the summer break can’t come early enough for him I suspect.

“I still wonder why they didn’t give Kimi a couple of years to learn his trade in a lesser spotlight as they did with George Russell, he’s a generational talent as my Sky colleague Nico Rosberg would say, but they can’t let his head spiral.”

Antonelli set to keep seat for 2026

The futures of both Mercedes drivers have been hot topics in recent months, given the team’s interest in Max Verstappen.

However, all signs point towards Verstappen staying at Red Bull for 2026.

This means Mercedes should have an unchanged driver lineup, with Russell alongside Antonelli.

During the Belgian GP weekend, Nico Rosberg suggested Mercedes should immediately give Antonelli a new deal to relieve some of the pressure.