Kimi Antonelli's significant practice crash just two laps into his official F1 practice debut on Friday could have pushed back the originally-scheduled announcement regarding his 2025 race seat.
Instead of speaking with the press on Friday and finally discussing the prospect of replacing Lewis Hamilton next year, the young Italian driver headed to the medical centre.
"I think the marketing team was ready with the press release that he will get the seat in 2025," former F1 driver Robert Doornbos told Ziggo Sport.
"They assumed it would go smoothly, and then he was in the wall at the Parabolica," he added.
Doornbos described Antonelli's brief yet high-speed stint in George Russell's Mercedes as "bizarre."
"He was immediately on the white lines, sometimes even touching the grass," the Dutchman remarked. "He went through the second Lesmo 7kph faster than Max Verstappen. In Ascari, he was 9kph faster than anyone else - all day. The most difficult corner."
"That's why his rear tyres were already much too hot. He then steers in, and no one was home."
The 52G impact from Antonelli's crash immediately sparked further discussion about whether jumping straight into Formula 1 next year might be too soon for the teenager.
"The pressure was enormous," Doornbos said.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff quickly reassured Antonelli over the radio, saying, "All good, Kimi."
The Austrian later told reporters, "He only did a lap and a half, but in this lap and a half he did the job."
Wolff hasn't really concealed the fact that Antonelli's race agreement for 2025 is already in place, but when questioned following Friday's crash, he maintained, "We haven't confirmed him."
"I like his talent, his development potential, his family. But we haven't confirmed him yet."
Rumours suggested an official announcement, initially planned for Friday, would instead occur on Saturday. Indeed, Mercedes issued the press release early Saturday morning.
"Mercedes hyped Antonelli so heavily," said Doornbos. "This (Friday) was the day that it was supposed to happen."
As for Wolff, he remains firm that the crash hasn't altered his view of Antonelli's future. Plans for the young driver's next practice session are already set for the Mexican GP.
"Zero effect," Wolff said when asked if the crash had changed any plans.
"We'd rather have a problem in slowing him down than making him faster," he added. "Because what we've seen from one and a half laps is just astonishing."
"We are running fully conscious into these driver decisions, fully conscious of what can happen, what to expect and managing the expectations," said the Austrian. "And clearly here with everything piling up on him in Monza, that's very difficult to cope with."
"Is that the reason why he put it in the wall? Maybe. But like I said before, I'd rather slow somebody down than make him fast, because the second one is impossible." body check tags ::
