On the day that Logan Sargeant lastly out-qualifies Alex Albon, it’s claimed that Williams is trying to substitute the American with Kimi Antonelli. Not so, say James Vowles and Toto Wolff.
The declare follows reviews that the FIA has obtained a request for dispensation – believed to have come from Williams – for the teenager to be granted a superlicence earlier than his 18th birthday.
The Italian would not flip 18 till 25 August – the day of the Dutch Grand Prix – nonetheless, chatting with reporters in Miami, Williams boss, James Vowles performed down the speak.
“We’ve got far greater issues to unravel than drivers for the time being,” he stated. “Alex has completed championship-level drives and for the time being he is not scoring factors and essentially we now have it on us to enhance our automotive going ahead. That is my major concern greater than anything and what we do with drivers going into ’25, ’26.
All of us listed below are simply checking out the place we’ll be for subsequent yr essentially,” he added. “And of that, there are alternatives on the desk, however it’s far too early to inform.
“Within the sense of Kimi, you need to bear in mind it is simply 20 months in the past he was in a Formulation 4 automotive. That is a big, massive step up right into a Formulation 1 automotive in such a brief area of time.”
Requested if he had been following the Italian’s progress in his (F1) checks for Mercedes on the Crimson Bull Ring and Imola, Vowles stated: “My data supply is journalism for that. So I haven’t got any direct communication with Mercedes on how he is doing within the checks. I simply perceive that he has been testing in Imola and I believe he additionally did Austria on the identical time.
“So for that one, every thing I learn is what you learn, which so far as I can inform, it is good. However you’ll be able to’t actually examine in that scenario. It is older vehicles. I am undecided if it is a ’21 or a ’22 automotive. And there is nothing actually to reference it to.”
Requested if he has really spoken to Antonelli, Vowles stated: “Let’s put it this manner. I have never spoken to Kimi since Abu Dhabi final yr. Hopefully that places it in context.
“I do know nothing about what is going on on at Mercedes’ checks proper now,” he added. “We’re wanting, as everybody else is, for the place we need to be on driver line-up for subsequent yr and we now have our personal younger driver programme. Within the case of Kimi, I can not actually adjudicate on the extent he is at.
“In case of him coming into the automotive this yr, I’ve all the time stated from the start, it is a meritocracy. Logan has to earn his seat. And for the time being, he has some powerful targets the place he has to get a lot nearer to Alex. However there may be nothing on the radar for the time being for changing him.”
After all, Antonelli is already being linked with Mercedes, the teenager one in every of a number of names being thought-about as Lewis Hamilton’s alternative. Nevertheless, Toto Wolff insists that he desires issues to play out naturally, and although conscious that he let Max Verstappen slip by his fingers, insists that he has no intention of adjusting his unique plans for the Italian.
“The dispensation was one thing that wasn’t introduced up by us and we now have definitely acknowledged from the start that that was not one thing we now have pursued,” he advised Motorsport.com. “I do not know the place this perception comes from that Mercedes was eager on pushing that ahead.
“Kimi wants to focus on his F2 marketing campaign and he is aware of that,” he added. “All the pieces else is simply rumours, which proceed to spin round and which can be factually incorrect. He is an F2 driver for Prema, that’s what he is doing, and that is what we’re all concentrating on.
“Simply 15 months in the past, he was in an F4 automotive,” he continued. “We’ve got nice perception in Kimi, his talents and in addition his future. However there’s a trajectory which we have to comply with with diligence, quite than attempting to dream about leaping from collection to collection in a manner that’s definitely not helpful for him.
“I believe a champion will not be going to be distracted by any of this. However definitely, not less than it distracts me as a result of everyone’s asking me: ‘What about Kimi and driving in Imola?’ This isn’t going to occur. This isn’t one thing that Mercedes desires. These rumours have gotten their very own spin. Let’s do Formulation 2. We as a workforce have plenty of different points to resolve.”
Referring to Antonelli’s F1 check debut, Wolff stated: “It is fully on the trajectory that we anticipated. There are simpler days, there are tougher days. The testing goes very properly and we’re simply approaching it calm and picked up.
“That’s what we now have deliberate earlier than the season, a stable F2 marketing campaign and testing for Mercedes, and we are going to proceed to simply do that. All the pieces else is only a distraction for all of us.
“We’re tremendous pleased with George. He’ll proceed to be a driver on this workforce. And every thing else we see panning out on the driving force market. It isn’t going to occur within the subsequent few weeks or a few months.”
It is understood that Mercedes is to run Antonelli and Mick Schumacher in a check at Silverstone as early subsequent week, however Wolff nonetheless insistent that he would not need to rush the Italian teenager into F1.
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