Wolff jokes about pillow fix as Antonelli's track limits habit unsettles Mercedes

Toto Wolff has made light of a recurring concern, joking he will slide a hotel pillow under Kimi Antonelli’s seat to help the Mercedes rookie spot the white lines — but the team principal admitted the track-limits habit left him genuinely uneasy during Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay.

Antonelli crossed the white lines on four separate occasions during the race. Under F1 regulations, a fourth infringement carries an automatic five-second penalty, but the stewards spared him because one of the violations was attributed to a loss of brake control rather than a deliberate overstep. The Italian ultimately finished third, 16 seconds clear of Lando Norris, meaning a penalty would not have altered the championship picture — Antonelli leads the standings — yet the near-miss was enough to keep Wolff on edge for much of the afternoon.

“Half the race we already have three strikes,” Wolff said. “But it also shows that he’s pushing the limits a lot. I’m going to put a pillow from the hotel under his butt, so he can actually see the road. Because I think he can’t see it.”

Wolff was otherwise measured in his praise of how Antonelli handled a difficult weekend. Mercedes brought an upgrade to Kuala Lumpur that did not deliver the expected pace gain, and the team principal acknowledged the Silver Arrow is no longer the dominant force it was earlier in the season. Despite that, he credited the 18-year-old for keeping his composure and managing the race intelligently.

“I think how he’s driven that is mature and good,” Wolff said. “We talked about it and he said, ‘I’ve just got to keep my calm here and make sure that I finish the race’. Handling a difficult car at that stage and trying to develop it and learn — it’s good.”

The race was not without its anxious moments beyond the track-limits warnings. On lap 32, Antonelli radioed in to report a liquid sensation near his feet, briefly raising reliability fears in the garage. Mercedes could find nothing alarming in the data at the time, and Wolff was still without a definitive answer when he spoke to the media after the chequered flag, suggesting the most likely culprit was a leaking drinks bottle.

More concrete was the explanation for Antonelli’s complaint that his brake pedal had gone “so long” and that he had “no brakes”. Wolff confirmed the car had suffered heat soak in the braking system, most likely following the pit stop, causing the pedal to extend before recovering as airflow cooled the brakes back down.

Antonelli’s podium extends his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship as the season heads into its closing phase.