Wolff jokes a pillow could help Antonelli see the track limits

Toto Wolff joked about how to help Kimi Antonelli see the white lines more clearly after the Singapore Grand Prix: “I’ll put a pillow under his butt.” At Marina Bay, Antonelli exceeded track limits on four occasions. A fourth breach would theoretically have brought a five-second penalty, but he escaped it because one of the incidents followed a loss of control.

The possibility of a penalty still unsettled Wolff. Antonelli, the championship leader, finished third, 16 seconds ahead of Lando Norris. A penalty would therefore have made no difference to that result, but the jeopardy was enough to leave Mercedes’ team principal uncomfortable.

Wolff also put the race in the context of the driver’s progress. He said Antonelli had made the most of the long spells when the car was dominant early in the season. Then, in Kuala Lumpur, the team had a slower car that was difficult to drive. “The work from both drivers over the weekend meant the car in the race wasn’t bad,” he said.

The improvement did not make the car as quick as it should have been with the upgrade. Wolff praised Antonelli’s race management and composure, while acknowledging the concern over track limits: halfway through the race, the driver already had three strikes. In a joke, the team principal even suggested taking a hotel pillow so Antonelli could see the road better. He also praised the driver’s maturity in handling a difficult car while trying to develop it and learn.

A separate incident briefly raised reliability concerns. On lap 32, Antonelli reported: “I feel something leaking between my feet.” Mercedes could not see anything significant in the data. Wolff said they did not know what the liquid was and suggested it might have been a drink bottle or a leak. He also explained that the brakes had suffered heat soak after the stop, making the pedal travel longer before airflow cooled them and it recovered.

Antonelli’s podium, together with George Russell’s latest setback, leaves the youngster with an outside chance of winning the world title at the United States Grand Prix the following week.