'We've got to do things differently' - Toto Wolff faces quandary to chose between rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli and more experienced F1 drivers

As Fernando Alonso penned a fresh deal with Aston Martin last week, Mercedes is in quest to find a replacement for outgoing Lewis Hamilton. Team principal Toto Wolff finds himself in a difficult situation to choose a good replacement. He lists down his prospects like Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli but finds a difficult problem to finalize a name.

Verstappen is a difficult choice as he is very unlikely to leave shining Red Bull. Carlos Sainz and Antonelli are the other two options but choosing one is a little conundrum for Wolff. Sainz is looking for a long-term deal that will push Antonelli out of contention for Mercedes which Wolf and co find difficult to do.

Notably, Antonelli is currently racing in F2 with Prema and has been phenomenal with his skills. He has been termed next Verstappen for his outstanding performances. Speaking about the dilemma Wolff said, "I think you can look at it from various perspectives.”

"We all know that we are in a rebuilding phase, you need to acknowledge that three years into these regulations, we've got to do things differently than we've done in the past.”

“We are not able to extract lap time”, says Toto Wolff

Further speaking about the team’s ongoing performance and opportunities to go well beyond the others Toto Wolff said that his team is experiencing a downforce but they failed to extract the lap time.

"That is without throwing overboard what we believe is goodness in the way we operate. To rebuild a good team, we could put a young driver in, give him an opportunity with less pressure and fighting for victories immediately, or put a more experienced driver in the car that can help us dig ourselves out of the current performance.”

"Everything over these two years that we have seen points to the fact that there should be more downforce than we believe it is. We've measured the downforce, and it is there, but we are not able to extract the lap-time out of it that we should and which simulation shows us [should be there]."