Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has hinted that he is against a premature Formula 1 debut for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, despite a dispensation request coming from Williams.
It emerged during the Miami Grand Prix weekend that Williams had lodged a submission to the FIA to grant Antonelli an exemption from F1’s minimum age regulation.
As it stands, the Italian has the requisite 40 points for an FIA Super License, but he would be ineligible to obtain one to advance into F1 until he turns 18 on August 25.
But an FIA panel can vote to override that ruling under certain circumstances, which could enable Antonelli to replace the under-pressure Logan Sargeant at Williams.
However, Wolff has clarified the approach to the FIA did not come from Mercedes, citing his stance would be to avoid rushing Antonelli’s progression to the top flight.
“That wasn’t Mercedes’ approach to the FIA about getting an earlier release,” Wolff said post-race in Miami.
He added: “There are so many stories where clearly it doesn’t do him any favour because he needs to concentrate on his F2 [Formula 2] campaign.
“He’s doing lots of testing for us in order to bring him up to speed.”
Antonelli has been dovetailing his maiden F2 season with testing in past Mercedes F1 cars, starting with the 2021 machine at the Red Bull Ring and the W13 at Imola.
The Mercedes protege is among the candidates to take the German marque’s available drive for 2025, with Lewis Hamilton vacating his place to switch over to Ferrari.
Max Verstappen has been named as Wolff’s number-one target for the seat, but the reigning F1 champion has pledged his commitment to honouring his Red Bull deal.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has been touted as an alternative option in a negotiation that could culminate with Antonelli being loaned out to Williams as George Russell was.
Williams has Alex Albon tied down through 2025, but Sargeant’s prospects appear bleak as the American has endured a challenging start to his sophomore campaign.
Speculation had spread that the Grove-based squad was open to putting Antonelli in its FW46 car for this weekend’s race at Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
However, Williams Team Principal James Vowles slammed the door shut on such rumours, though he didn’t rule out Antonelli being under consideration for the future.
There was a rumour going around that he’ll be in the car from Imola – he won’t be in the car for Imola,” Vowles commented.
“What we’re doing at the moment is evaluating drivers for ’26 and ’25, and what we really want is the right driver pairing for those two years, as when you go through a regulation change you don’t want to be changing drivers, so you’re looking for the right pairing for that period of time.
“There’s no doubt that he’s got huge skill to him, but he was in an F4 car 20 months ago – that’s where he is.
“It’s a very different proposition to most. We’ve been talking to four or five drivers at the moment for that period of time. I’m quite happy to sit back a little bit and wait.”
