Kimi Antonelli warned "silly little errors" could cost him his F1 future

Kimi Antonelli has been warned by Johnny Herbert that his “silly little errors” could cost him his F1 future.

The 19-year-old Italian is enduring a tough rookie season with Mercedes and has been unable to turnaround his recent slump of form amid a torrid European leg of the campaign.

Antonelli was twice penalised as he finished 16th at the Dutch Grand Prix before another time penalty at Monza saw him demoted from sixth to ninth after the chequered flag.

This led to a notable first public criticism of Antonelli from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who admitted the teenager’s performance on home soil was “underwhelming”.

Antonelli’s form has left three-time grand prix winner Herbert worried.

“Mistakes again. It's a continuing theme that Antonelli doesn't seem to be able to shake off,” Herbert told Racing Tipster. “The longer this goes on, the more it starts to gnaw at you mentally.

“You've got George doing the job he’s doing. You then hear the criticism that comes from outside your garage, and within the bubble of F1 and then outside the bubble of F1 and you've got to be able to rectify it.

“I know there was a lot of talk during the break about how Mercedes is going to support Kimi. Well, the support was there from race one. There’s never been a lack of support. It's down to him to be able to absorb all the pressure that's on you and then stop making those silly little errors that are coming into play.

“I say silly little errors because they are. We only go back to what happened in Holland. It was a crazy, silly move that should never have ever entered his head. But for some reason, these little mistakes, mental decision-making mistakes are far, far too frequent.

“He's going to suffer for that. Potentially, he's going to lose his chance of having a long career in Formula One.”

Have Mercedes made a mistake?

Until Monza, Wolff had been steadfast in his support of Antonelli despite scathing criticism from the likes of Jacques Villeneuve.

Herbert believes Wolff isn’t prepared to accept he may have promoted Antonelli, who was fast-tracked into F1 as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement after just a single season in Formula 2, too soon.

“There is a human side that's coming into effect. Toto [Wolff] has put so much trust into Antonelli for so long,” Herbert continued.

“I think Toto is in a position where he doesn’t want to accept that it hasn't and isn't working out at the present time.

“Toto still believes that he can do it. But it's one of those situations in Formula One. There have been many talents that have done so impressively well going into Formula 3 and Formula 2.

“Then they got to Formula One and it never worked out. And the one guy I would probably say totally surprised me for some reason was Nyck de Vries and why it didn't work.

“He got to Formula 1 and was supposed to be the man to blow everybody out of the water and it never materialised.”