Wolff: We lack top speed on the straights

      After the first practice in Monza, Kimi Antonelli set the fifth-best time, George Russell the eighth, but toward the end of the session serious technical problems developed on his Mercedes and the car stopped on the track.

      "It's due to a problem with the hydraulic system: George's engine shut off because the protection kicked in," explained Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, after the session. "And generally we're a bit short of top speed on the straights, as far as I could see from the telemetry. So I don't yet know how good our car is. It might be related to the wings being set at too high an angle of attack, but maybe the cause is something else."

      When Wolff was asked if there was any news about negotiations with Russell regarding a contract for next year, he said: "For one reason or another, we haven't discussed various details yet and should deal with them in the coming days. That includes how to optimize the travel schedule for races and other trips.

      "These are all nuances not worth making a big deal out of. There won't be much fuss about the contract renewal because we consider it a done deal. At the same time, our team does not always favour long-term contracts; usually the terms of agreements are very short. The longest contracts have been two years with an option to extend — in general, Mercedes follows that approach.

      "George's contract was signed on a '1 year plus 1 year' basis; that's how we do it. In any case, drivers have to work under colossal pressure. And if a driver insists he will go faster if he has a two-year contract, that means he has the wrong mindset.

      "Speaking of Kimi, we probably didn't prepare him quite correctly for his Formula 1 debut. He started the season very well, but then the car's behaviour became more unpredictable, which shook his self-confidence. He gradually achieved improvements, but the mistake he made in the first practice in Zandvoort did not help him subsequently find the right approach to qualifying.

      "I think that right now the most important thing is to give him the opportunity to grow professionally, to allow him to make mistakes — after all, he's only 19 years old. In any case, we believe that Antonelli was the best alternative when it became clear that Lewis Hamilton was leaving the team. We made a conscious choice and were prepared for the consequences. Perhaps there were more difficulties over the course of the season than we'd have liked, but we will continue to work with Kimi."