Antonelli is being evaluated by Mercedes as an option to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton for 2025, dovetailing a Formula 2 campaign at Prema with private testing in the Brackley team’s previous F1 cars.

But in recent days, the 17-year-old Mercedes protege has also been mentioned as an option to replace Williams’ Logan Sargeant this year if the Grove-based squad decides it wants to switch drivers.

That idea ramped up on Friday after it emerged that the FIA had received a request for dispensation, understood to be from Williams, to grant the Italian youngster the required superlicence to compete in F1 before he reaches the minimum age of 18.

Antonelli does not turn 18 until the end of August, fuelling speculation that he was being prepared for an F1 debut before the summer break.

But speaking to Autosport, Wolff has completely ruled out that idea, saying there is no interest from Mercedes in changing its original plans for the youngster.

“The dispensation was something that wasn’t brought up by us and we have certainly stated from the beginning that that was not something we have pursued,” Wolff said.

“I don’t know where this belief comes from that Mercedes was keen on pushing that forward. Kimi needs to concentrate on his F2 campaign and he knows that.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli drives Mercedes W12

“Everything else is just rumours, which continue to spin around and that are factually incorrect. He’s an F2 driver for Prema, that is what he’s doing, and this is what we’re all concentrating on.”

Wolff stressed that Mercedes would remain careful not to burn Antonelli by promoting him too early, given his rapid rise through the junior series and his lack of experience.

“Just 15 months ago, he was in an F4 car,” he said. “We have great belief in Kimi, his abilities and also his future.

“But there is a trajectory which we need to follow with diligence, rather than trying to dream about jumping from series to series in a way that is certainly not beneficial for him.

“I think a champion is not going to be distracted by any of this. But certainly, at least it distracts me because everybody’s asking me: ‘What about Kimi and driving in Imola?

“This is not going to happen. This is not something that Mercedes wants. These rumours have gotten their own spin. Let’s do Formula 2. We as a team have lots of other issues to resolve.”

Wolff made clear that Mercedes had never expressed any interest in fast-tracking Antonelli into F1, and suggested that the dispensation request was something done by a third party.

“I think that this dispensation is probably something that got some traction because more and more people flirted with the idea,” he said. “But it’s certainly nothing that we have ever pushed from our side.”

Wolff said Mercedes was happy with the progress Antonelli is making, comparing favourably to Ferrari’s highly-rated Jeddah debutant Oliver Bearman in F1 so far.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes testing at Imola

Photo by: Davide Cavazza

Last month, he also completed a maiden F1 test with the 2021 Mercedes W12 at the Red Bull Ring, followed by an Imola test in the more recent but trickier-to-drive 2022 W13.

“It’s completely on the trajectory that we expected,” Wolff said about his protege’s progress.

“There are easier days, there are harder days. I think between the two drivers and the team, they need to sort out a few issues, but it’s not unexpected. And the testing goes very well and we are just approaching it calm and collected.

“That is what we have planned before the season, a solid F2 campaign and testing for Mercedes, and we will continue to just do this. Everything else is just a distraction for all of us.

“We are super happy with George [Russell]. He’s going to continue to be a driver in this team. And everything else we see panning out on the driver market.

“It’s not going to happen in the next few weeks or a couple of months.”

Bottas will start last for Saturday afternoon’s sprint action at the Hard Rock Stadium, actually only two places back from where he qualified after the stewards deemed he had impeded McLaren’s Oscar Piastri during their near-crash in Friday evening sprint qualifying.

The incident happened with four minutes left in SQ1, with Bottas heading into Turn 1 slowly having just completed a flying lap as Piastri approached fast behind having just begun a flier.

Avoiding action from both drivers prevented a crash, with the stewards’ finding that Sauber “had not warned the driver of car 77 that car 81 was approaching on a fast lap” and that was “obviously an error on the team’s part and contributed significantly to the incident”.

The stewards nevertheless handed out the grid drop sanction as Article 33.4 of F1’s sporting rules states “the primary responsibility rests with the driver to ensure that he does not place himself in a position whereby he unnecessarily impedes another driver”.

“Here, car 77 was driving slowly on the racing line and caused the situation that ensued”, the bulletin added.

The incident is notable because Bottas has a new race engineer for this weekend after what the Finn called “quite a sudden change” made by Sauber between this event and the Chinese GP.

Mercedes investigation may lead to rule change

In the other post-sprint race investigation, the stewards opted to take no action against Mercedes for its mechanics not wearing helmets when front wing angle adjustments were being made to Lewis Hamilton’s’ car during the closing minutes of SQ2.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W15

Photo by: Erik Junius

This is a breach of Article 34.13’s sporting rules that states “all team personnel carrying out any work on a car in the pitlane when the car is in its pitstop position… must be wearing helmets.”

The rule also states that “the use of appropriate eye protection is compulsory”.

But the stewards opted not to sanction Mercedes because “as we were examining the conduct of the team in relation to this infringement, it came to our attention that a number of other teams had engaged in similar work without helmets and/or without eye protection during the session either within the pit stop position or in close proximity to it”.

The bulletin continued: “Certainly, those that were working on the car within the pitstop positions would also have been in breach of Article 34.13 (for example by touching the car or jacking up the car).

“Indeed, those slightly outside of their pitstop position may not been in breach of the above article but the distinction, from a safety perspective (which is the likely purpose for this rule), was not obvious to us.

“Furthermore, it appears to be the established practice to jack the car up, while blowers are used to cool the brakes, within the pit stop position to bring the car back into the garage.

“That too, read strictly, could be in breach of the above regulations.

“So, in these circumstances, penalising one team, where all or nearly all the teams may potentially have been in breach of this article in some form or the other would not serve a useful purpose.

“We accordingly took no further action.”

The stewards then requested the FIA “consider whether changes need to be made to either the current practices during qualifying/sprint qualifying or the regulations themselves”.

A gaggle of drivers investigated for driving too slowly on out-laps during SQ1 and SQ2 escaped sanction, as has become typical for such situations in recent F1 seasons.