22/06/2024
NEWS STORY
Toto Wolff insists that the recent change to the rule relating to the age at which a driver can qualify for a superlicence will not change his plans for Kimi Antonelli.
Amidst pressure from Williams, which it is thought is keen to run the Italian as early as the forthcoming Dutch Grand Prix, the FIA recently amended the International Sporting Code.
Under the previous rule a driver could not be issued a superlicence until he is 18, while Antonelli's 18th birthday is on the day of the Zandvoort race.
The recent amendment, now advises that: "At the sole discretion of the FIA, a driver judged to have recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition may be granted a super licence at the age of 17 years old", while also removing the demand that the driver in question "be the holder of a valid driving licence when he applies for a super licence for the first time."
Whatever Williams might have in mind for the youngster, the real interest is whether Mercedes might place him alongside George Russell in 2025. Previously, Wolff, who also manages Antonelli, claimed that he didn't want to rush him.
Asked what the amendment to the rules means, the Austrian said: "That means nothing. I think the FIA has taken a standpoint saying we don't want to have a hard limit on a particular age because it could be the fact that young men could be fast-tracked if their success is outstanding.
"So in a way, that wasn't about Antonelli," he added. "That was more to change something in the regulations in the World Motorsport Council that anyway was in the discretion of the President before.
"For us, it doesn't make a big difference. Kimi is doing F2, he's doing the TPC testing, he's learning, he's developing, he's making mistakes, all of that together, and that is the current status. So that wasn't an acute need to put him in a car."