Kardashian revives 'Towel-Gate' with Antonelli on Singapore red carpet

Kim Kardashian and Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli brought their season-long paddock joke back to life on the Singapore Airlines red carpet ahead of the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay, with Kardashian throwing her hands up and telling the championship leader, “Nooo, Kimi, I don’t dare to touch your towel this time.”

The exchange is the latest instalment of what F1 fans have dubbed “Towel-Gate”, a running gag that began at the Monaco Grand Prix in early June. After Antonelli claimed a dominant victory around the streets of Monte Carlo, Kardashian — in the Principality to support Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton — was caught on camera accidentally picking up the race winner’s official cool-down towel and using it to wipe her brow and sunglasses before walking away with it.

Mercedes moved quickly to squeeze every drop of content from the moment. Antonelli and team-mate George Russell filmed a video of the Italian teenager wandering the Monaco paddock asking colleagues if anyone had seen his missing towel, which spread rapidly across social media.

Kardashian proved she was fully in on the joke a fortnight later at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, presenting Antonelli with a brand-new, custom-embroidered replacement towel. The young Mercedes driver responded with a publicised thank-you video, cementing the bit as one of the more charming off-track storylines of the season.

The Singapore red carpet reunion kept the mood light, but the race itself produced sharply contrasting fortunes for the two drivers in Kardashian’s F1 orbit. Antonelli navigated extreme heat, severe tyre degradation, and a track limits controversy to secure a third-place podium finish that kept his substantial championship lead intact. Hamilton, whom Kardashian was cheering on from the Ferrari garage after a pre-race grid interview, had a harder afternoon at Marina Bay.