On the face of it, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff giving an interview to Auto Motor und Sport carefully downplaying expectations surrounding rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli seems like a typical piece of off-season ‘noise’. Very little of it would provoke angry debate in the sanctified halls of the Oxford Union.
“If you expect him [Antonelli] to be on pole position in Melbourne, win the race and immediately compete for the championship, then the risk is high because that won't happen,” said Wolff.
