Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has claimed that Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has closed the door on everyone by selecting Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement for the 2025 season. The F2 driver has been backed by the German team for the last couple of years and his success in the junior categories has caught the attention of everyone.

There were several candidates for the former world champions to replace the departing Lewis Hamilton for next year like Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon but Wolff had been fixated on the young Italian.

Speaking with Sky Sports, Jacques Villeneuve believes that it is a matter of “ego” for the Austrian team boss as he had let go of the opportunity to nab Max Verstappen a decade ago before the latter entered F1. He said:

“Toto Wolff does not consider any other solution other than Antonelli. The door is closed, and Mercedes will be Antonelli’s team for the future. Toto Wolff’s ego also played an important role in this decision.

“He wanted to prove to the world that he was right to have chosen him when he was only 12 years old. He wants to show that even then he saw a future world champion in him.”

Lewis Hamilton chooses his successor at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton has stated that the Mercedes F1 team should go for Kimi Antonelli next year despite having Carlos Sainz on the market.

As per Sky Sports, the Ferrari-bound seven-time world champion said:

“Carlos is a great driver, so I think wherever he goes I think he would be a positive for any team. Honestly, I have no idea what Toto’s plans are, but for me, taking on a youngster, if it was my role, I would probably take on Kimi.”

In Canada last weekend, Toto Wolff seemingly shut the door on Carlos Sainz joining the Brackley-based outfit and shifted his focus on grooming the young Italian for the seat next year. He said (via Crash.net):

“I think, first of all, Carlos deserves a top seat. He’s done a fantastic job but for us, we’ve embarked on a route now to say you know what we want to reinvent ourselves a bit going forward and Kimi Antonelli definitely plays a part in that.”We just want to concentrate on Kimi, that is our future, young driver. We want to commit to that, to young drivers and that is what we’ve told Carlos.”

Mercedes have not announced Kimi Antonelli officially as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement on the team for next season and has been preparing him for F1 by organizing private tests for him in previous year’s machinery.

The German team has been encouraged by the 17-year-old’s speed in the W12 and W13 thus far, calling it ‘metronomic’.