Mercedes warned of ‘one-man team’ risk with Kimi Antonelli ‘struggling’

Mercedes has been told it is “becoming a one-man team” by Jolyon Palmer as Kimi Antonelli goes through a difficult period of his rookie year.

A bright start to F1 2025 had many believing teenager Antonelli would fit right in on the Formula 1 grid but the 19-year-old has experienced a downturn in form since F1 headed to Europe.

Mercedes becoming a ‘one-man team’ following Antonelli struggles

Aside from the 15 points he scored in Canada, Antonelli has managed just one point at European venues this year with that coming at the most recent race in Hungary.

George Russell, meanwhile, has been a consistent point scorer, missing out only in Monaco, making him the clear team leader in terms of points.

Russell has scored almost three times the amount Antonelli has so far, leading Palmer to wonder if Mercedes, which has always typically had two strong drivers, are now a “one-man team.”

“I think Russell’s driving at an incredibly high level at the moment,” Palmer said on the F1 Nation podcast. “They’re becoming a one-man team at the moment, you’ve got Antonelli struggling.

“So they need to try and get Antonelli firing again to try and overhaul Ferrari in the championship.”

Antonelli’s issues have not been helped by a drop in performance from the Mercedes car. After five races to start the year, the Silver Arrows had 111 points but have only added 125 in the following nine.

This hot and cold performance is not unique to F1 2025, Palmer suggested.

“Same old story: they need to understand what’s making their car tick.

“We hear all the time about the weather. It’s going to be cooler in Zandvoort, for what it’s worth, but the correlation isn’t perfect between cool weather and Mercedes winning either.

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“They always have these flash points. Ever since 2022, they’ll have these moments and you’re like: ‘They’ve got it, they’ve understood the car. Finally, Mercedes are back.’

“And lo and behold, they’re not and they still are trying to understand what’s going on with the car.”

Team boss Toto Wolff suggested similar when defending Antonelli’s form and said they were always expecting mistakes from the youngest member of the grid.

“Kimi is a huge talent: he’s fast, he’s intelligent,” Wolff told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I said it right from the start: he’ll make mistakes, we know that, and we wouldn’t have taken him on if we weren’t aware of that,” Wolff continued.

“Unfortunately, we have an inconsistent car, which makes it more difficult for him to adapt.

“But going through these difficulties is also part of the process of becoming a champion.”

Read next: Bold predictions as F1 2025 resumes: Hamilton engineer swap, Russell to Red Bull, Colapinto out