Toto Wolff has seemingly confirmed that Kimi Antonelli will be replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season. The Silver Arrows are yet to officially announce their driver line-up for 2025 but it appears that a decision has already been made.
Wolff is known to have an interest in signing Max Verstappen, having openly courted the Dutchman over the last few months. Ahead of this weekend’s race at Zandvoort, he admitted that discussions had taken place but ruled out a move for 2025.
“I thought all through the year that there was a window or that there was a possibility, it wasn’t zero,” said Wolff. “It’s pretty bumpy ground there still, and not only for performance reasons, but also because of interpersonal issues that we’re all aware.
“By the way, I got on with Jos [Verstappen] for all my life, but maybe because we’re a bit similar. And that’s why I thought the door was never completely closed. What were the odds of that happening? Maybe they were 10 to one. Nine to one. Still, I didn’t want to give up.
“But then we came to the conclusion over the summer that we shouldn’t be waiting for something to happen before committing for 2025, but let’s just continue our job, Max at Red Bull and here at Mercedes taking our own driver decisions. And that was a kind of a joint thought.”
Wolff then appeared to reveal that Antonelli had already signed to replace Hamilton in 2025, with a slip of the tongue giving the game away.
“Soon, we will confirm who is in the second seat,” he added. “And what I also said is that the two drivers that are in the car have our full support, 100 per cent. Therefore, I’m entering the season in 2025 with two drivers that we will be given all the opportunity to perform.
“And that’s why I don’t want to talk about the 2026 driver line-up at that stage because I want to make it work with George and Kimi.”
Antonelli has already taken part in a behind-closed-doors test for Mercedes and is expected to be given more sessions before the end of this year. If the move goes ahead, he will become the third-youngest driver in the history of the sport behind only Verstappen and Lance Stroll.