Why Toto Wolff is refusing to call Kimi Antonelli the F1 title favourite

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has refused to label Kimi Antonelli as the Formula 1 title favourite, despite the Italian holding a 50-point lead at the midpoint of the season.

Antonelli has been a revelation this season, with a five-race winning streak from China to Monaco forming the body of his points lead over Lewis Hamilton. 

Indeed, this lead could have been greater still had it not been for reliability problems that struck to different degrees in Barcelona and Great Britain. In both races, Antonelli was hunting down a Ferrari driver - Hamilton in the first and Charles Leclerc in the second - while on what appeared to be the more favourable strategy.

"It's too early to say," said Wolff, remaining coy on the championship picture. 

"I'm superstitious. Even though the gap is 50 points, there are so many races to go. A DNF or two can just swing things massively, and we've not been great on reliability. 

"So, we just have to continue to maximise every single day from the Friday onwards to the Sunday, and then hopefully at the end, that will be enough."

While improved reliability for Mercedes could have extended Antonelli's points advantage, it is also entirely possible that an improvement in this area could result in a net points loss for the second-year driver. 

This is because team-mate George Russell, who is currently third and 59 points back, has also suffered with woes of his own, most notably in Canada, when his Mercedes shut down while the pair went wheel-to-wheel in an all-out tussle for the victory.

These problems carry with them an increased risk that both Mercedes drivers will need to take a grid penalty in the latter stages of the season for exceeding the number of power unit components used across the campaign. 

"Wolff added: "In terms of engine penalties, I still very much hope we don't need to take it. And we need to decide when that is, when we need to take one, at which tracks. 

"There could be one that can be very special for Kimi, but on paper looks like it's a good place to take an engine penalty. So, need to speak to Marco [Antonelli] about whether we want to take an engine penalty in Monza. 

"Baku is another good track. You take the pressure off in Monza, for instance, to start from the back. It's just that our reliability has not been good. Whether we take a penalty or not, we shall see."