Villeneuve blasts Antonelli for ‘F4’ Dutch GP crash with Leclerc

1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve gave an incredibly harsh assessment of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli after a challenging Dutch Grand Prix.

Antonelli’s race weekend ended on a disappointing note as he caused a collision with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, triggering a 10-second time penalty, which became 15 after a further five seconds were issued for speeding in the pit lane. Villeneuve was not impressed.

Jacques Villeneuve suggests F1 ‘maybe too much’ for Kimi Antonelli

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The Italian teenager returned from the summer break with a point to prove, his rookie season with Mercedes having produced up-and-down form. Ploughing into Leclerc down the inside of Turn 3 at Zandvoort did not help that cause.

Racing for fifth place in the race, Antonelli launched an attack down the inside of the Ferrari driver at Turn 3 only to undesteer, putting Leclerc into the wall.

The incident eliminated Leclerc from the race, and Villeneuve – who was on Sky F1 punditry duties at Zandvoort – showed no mercy towards Antonelli.

“Very poor. A move that you might see in Formula 4, Formula 3 from a driver who doesn’t have experience and just not calculated the way it should be,” Villeneuve assessed.

“When you’re in F1, you will make mistakes. You drive too hard your limit. But that was not even that. It was just badly calculated. He shouldn’t have done that.

“And then he got all riled up, and speed limit as well.”

Villeneuve bluntly suggested that for Antonelli: “Maybe F1 is just too much for him.”

Pressed on whether that was fair to say, as it was pointed out that Antonelli only just turned 19, Villeneuve replied: “He’s in Formula 1.

“What age was Max when he arrived in F1? What age was Lewis when he arrived? Exactly. So that’s not a good excuse.”

He added: “Look how far behind he was before the corner. He was two car lengths behind. On which planet did he think it would stick, that it would work out.

“Everyone knows that when you go down to the inside like this, that track doesn’t work. So you really need to be next to the other driver. Like Max. He was right up the gear [of Norris], on the outside, and barely made it stick.

“So it was just poor, poor calculation from his [Antonelli’s] part and he should be better than that in F1.”

Villeneuve’s Sky F1 colleague Naomi Schiff at this stage joined the side defending Antonelli.

“I think, to his defence a little bit on the age thing, I think if we look back at Max, when he was 16,17, 18, when he came into F1, how many big mistakes he was making.

“I mean, he was always pushing things a little bit over the limits.

“And the good thing is, he [Antonelli] is pushing things over the limit. They’re not having to get him to there, so now they’ve just got to rein him in, because he’s got it. He just needs to not miscalculate so many things.”

To that, Villeneuve retorted: “Hold on. I’ll add something to that. Max was driving over the limit, but he wasn’t four-tenths off. He was on pace.”

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With Antonelli just beyond halfway into his rookie F1 season, Villeneuve’s criticism seems harsh, especially considering his comparative lack of experience compared to his F1 peers. Antonelli was competing in Formula 4 as recently as 2022.

His incredible success on the junior scene saw Mercedes fast-track the Italian. He skipped Formula 3 completely, and spent just one year in Formula 2 before replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

Toto Wolff – Mercedes team principal and co-owner – is not alarmed.

He stressed that Antonelli’s rookie season is sporting the exact “up and down” characteristics which the team predicted, and accepted would happen before the campaign even began.

“At the beginning of the year, or when we made it clear last year in Monza that we would give him the opportunity, it was also saying that we will give him a year of learning,” Wolff told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“And then there would be moments where we would tear our hair out, and there would be other moments of brilliance. And I think this weekend pretty much sums that up.

“The mistake in FP1, clearly something that puts him on the back foot for the rest of the weekend. And then in the race, these moments of great driving. Once he was in free air, he was, behind the McLarens, the quickest car. Caught up, and then again, you know, was involved in that accident that unfortunately meant the end for Charles’s race, also for Kim’s race.

“But we want him to go for the moves.

“Obviously, up and downs, and that was absolutely expected from this season. Every one of those days is going to be a learning for next year.

“We’re not fighting for a Constructors’ Championship. Of course, it’s P2 and P3 that is at stake, but this has less relevance than next year, when it’s important to score the points.”

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