1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Toto Wolff’s “ego” is the reason Mercedes are going to sign Andrea Kimi Antonelli as 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton’s replacement.

The second Mercedes seat alongside 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell is still up for grabs.

Mercedes junior Antonelli remains the heavy favourite to take the seat after Wolff appeared to rule 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Carlos Sainz out of the running.

Wolff remains interested in signing 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen at Red Bull, but it’s exp🥀ected that the Dutchman will stay put for 2025 at least.

Antonelli has been part of Mercedes academy since 2019 (si🍎nce he was 12), rising through the motorsport ranks in impressive fashion.

The Italian is widely regarded as the ‘nextꦑ V🙈erstappen’ and looks likely to make his F1 debut next year after just two years in single-seaters.

Wolff famously missed out on Verstappen’s signature after R🐷ed Bull could offer him a full-time seat with Toro Rosso for 2015 - something Mercedes couldn’t offer given their lack of junior team.

Villeneuve thinks that Wolff picking Antonelli is an “e⛄go” based decision, claiming the Mercedes boss “will not have it any other way”.

“Me💎rcedes is not really an open door. It’s [Kimi] Antonelli’s team,” the Canadian said. “That’🤡s the future.

“He’s been prepped for it. Toto will not have it any otherဣ way. There’s e✅go in there.

“He will🏅 prove to the world that he was right, that when Antonelli was 12, he knew that he was a future champion.”

Wolff confirmed to Sky Germany during the Canada weekend that they “want to concentrate”🌼 on Antonelli - and his preparation for F1.

He also revealed that he had informed Sainz that he’s not under consideration by Mercedes as they﷽ look to the future. 

“We just want to concentrate on Kimi, that is our𒉰 future, young driver𝕴s," Wolff added.

“We want t💝o commit to that, to young drivers and th♏at is what we’ve told Carlos.”