Will Antonelli bounce back at Sepang, as Schumacher expects?

Ralf Schumacher thinks Antonelli's Baku wobble will not turn into a slump, and a new Mercedes update could put him back on top. Wolff, he says, was missed in Baku.

Ralf Schumacher does not expect Kimi Antonelli's difficult Baku weekend to develop into a slump, and believes Mercedes' new Sepang upgrade could quickly put the championship leader back on top.

"I don't think Kimi will get tense," Schumacher said on Sky Deutschland ahead of the 'Bahrain GP' in Malaysia.

"I also think the new update will help. If it really works, as expected, Mercedes will leave the competition in the dust."

Schumacher believes Antonelli's support system will also prevent the Baku setback from becoming something more serious.

"His father Marco will catch him if he falls," said the German. "But he will also give him a good kick in the pants."

"The same goes for Toto Wolff. And then Kimi will win again in Malaysia, I'm pretty sure of it."

Schumacher said Wolff's absence in Baku may even have mattered.

"On a weekend like that, he probably would have put his arm around Kimi at a dinner together and even looked at the data with him," said the former F1 driver.

"He was definitely missed in Baku."

He also dismissed comparisons with Oscar Piastri's 2025 collapse.

"His mind won't be a factor," said Schumacher. "Of course, things will get a bit more exciting towards the end. It's normal to tense up and make mistakes in that situation."

Related: Wolff missed Baku weekend for son's karting season

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Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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