Toto Wolff has been urged to make a ruthless decision ahead of the 2026 season.

Toto Wolff has been urged to drop Kimi Antonelli ahead of next season

Toto Wolff has been urged to dump Kimi Antonelli and replace him with a former Ferrari driver for the 2026 season. The young Italian was drafted in to succeed Lewis Hamilton and has endured a mixed campaign with the Silver Arrows. He got on the podium at the Canadian Grand Prix but has struggled to maintain that form over the last few months.

Antonelli has struggled to avoid crashing into his rivals, tangling with Max Verstappen at the Austrian Grand Prix before taking out Charles Leclerc at the Dutch Grand Prix. His recent results have often failed to inspire, with Wolff describing his ninth-placed finish at the Italian Grand Prix as ‘underwhelming’. In spite of his patchy form, Antonelli is expected to stay at Mercedes next year.

Not everybody believes that would be the right decision for the Silver Arrows, though. Guenther Steiner has urged Wolff to take Antonelli out of the limelight by arranging a swap deal for Williams driver Carlos Sainz.

Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner said: “Kimi and Albon, or Kimi and Sainz, we should say. It would be better for Kimi, I think. It would give him time to calm down.

“Look what happened with Liam Lawson when the pressure is gone. He can have good results, you develop, and then you come back as a better driver. They should try [to do the swap], but I don’t think that James Vowles is up for that.

The young Italian has struggled at times during his first season in F1

“But it’s a good idea, gas. It’s better for Kimi. No disrespect, the kid is 19 years old. We can see it’s too early for him, [he] makes too many mistakes, even Toto said that.

“Knowing Toto, when he starts to talk about [something], there is always something behind [it]. Maybe he’s thinking about that, saying he’s making too many mistakes.

“Maybe, in one or two races, it is better we send him to Williams to learn, but maybe there is something.”

It comes after Wolff revealed that he was planning to speak with Antonelli about the ‘luggage’ he is carrying from previous races, believing the pressure is starting to weigh him down.

“I think a clean weekend also means almost not to carry too much trauma of previous mistakes into the next session or into the next weekend, because that is luggage,” said Wolff.

“You’re not going to attack the corner hard if you’ve been off there before and it finished your session, or maybe you’re not attacking a driver that should not be in your way, like [Pierre] Gasly, because he had this situation with [Charles] Leclerc.

“I think just freeing him up, freeing him up to drive. He’s a great driver. He has this unbelievable ability and natural talent. He’s a racer. This is all there, but we need to get rid of the ballast.”