Antonelli cries as form collapses and Verstappen exit talk fades

Mercedes has hit rock bottom at Spa, with Toto Wolff admitting the team miscalculated badly—and Max Verstappen now looking increasingly locked in at Red Bull.

But the story of the weekend wasn’t on the timing screen. It was on Kimi Antonelli’s face.

The 18-year-old rookie, touted as Lewis Hamilton’s successor, qualified a painful 18th and broke down in tears before facing the media. Gripping a crumpled tissue and visibly emotional, he struggled to speak.

“Are you ok?” a Viaplay reporter asked gently.

“Yeah, I’m ok.”

“Yeah? Sure? Ok.”

The emotion had already spilled over on the radio. “So sorry. Sorry,” Antonelli said after his lap. His engineer Pete Bonnington replied supportively: “Don’t sweat about it, mate.”

Later, Antonelli explained the deeper struggle. “Just confidence,” he said quietly. “It’s a difficult moment for me. I just need to find the light out of the tunnel again.”

Wolff acknowledged the team’s strategic mistake on Friday. “We did a long run in the only practice session, which was wrong,” he told Sky Deutschland. “They went into qualifying with a single fast lap from practice. That’s just not acceptable, especially not for a rookie.”

To ease the pressure, Wolff resorted to unconventional motivation. “I told him I expected him to drive fast, and if he crashed into the wall, I’d give him 500 euros cash. I simply don’t want any trauma to remain.

“He’s two to three tenths behind George. That can’t stick in his head.”

Sky commentator Martin Brundle expressed concern. “Antonelli is in a really difficult phase, and the team needs to make sure it doesn’t turn into a crisis for a young man under so much pressure.”

George Russell also struggled, managing just P6. “It was my worst qualifying of the season, as was Kimi’s,” he admitted. “In the first six races, we were on the podium four times. In the next six, only once.

“It’s logical to conclude the team has shifted towards the middle of the pack.”

Wolff agreed: “It has been our weakest performance this year and we need to quickly understand why.”

Meanwhile, hopes that Verstappen might jump ship to Mercedes appear to be fading. Wolff joked with Ralf Schumacher about their infamous summer break run-in.

“You got the photographers on our vacation,” he said. “Yes, very nice when you have to hide.”

When asked if Mercedes would still chase Verstappen, Wolff offered a near-confirmation of the status quo. “We are 90 percent, no, 95 percent certain that we will go into the new season with these drivers,” he said.

Did Verstappen say no? “There’s no definitive ‘no’ yet,” Wolff added. “But our priority is to continue with our line-up. That’s what we’ve decided to do.

“Everything else we have to explore and see what a four-time world champion does in the future.”]]>