Mercedes Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff has joked Kimi Antonelli needs “a pillow under his butt” to better see the white lines on track, following the Singapore Grand Prix.
In the Marina Bay race, Antonelli breached track limits on four occasions; the theoretical punishment for a fourth strike is a five-second penalty, but he escaped it given one of those was down to a loss of control amid brake issues.
Such a sanction wouldn’t have cost the championship leader anything – he finished third with a comfortable 16-second gap to Lando Norris – but the jeopardy still left Wolff a little too uneasy to his taste.
Asked by Motorsport.com if we were seeing a different phase in Antonelli’s progress, given the Italian has been limiting the damage with a less dominant Silver Arrow lately, Wolff acknowledged: “I think it's a good phase because, exactly like you say, we had a car that was dominant for long spells at the beginning, and he did the best out of it.
“But then we put a car on the track in Kuala Lumpur that wasn't easy, that was slower, and I think the work over the weekend from the two drivers led to a point that the car in the race today was not bad.
“Was it as quick as it should have been? With the upgrade, it wasn't. But I think he managed his race, he kept his cool – other than a few of the track limits, where I have a good strategy, 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.
“That stresses us. Half the race we already have three strikes, but it also shows that he's pushing the limits a lot.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images
“I think how he's driven that is mature and good. We talked about it and he said, ‘I've just got to keep my calm here and make sure that I finish the race’. So, handling a difficult car at that stage and trying to develop it and learn, it's good.”
On lap 32, Antonelli reported “I feel something leaking between my feet”, briefly sparking reliability concerns, but Mercedes couldn’t see anything of note on the data.
When addressing the media moments after the race, Wolff was none the wiser.
“The liquid, we don't know,” the Austrian said. “We suspect it was the drink bottle that went there, or he had a leak, but he should have known that if it was the case.”
However, there was an explanation to Antonelli’s complaint about his brake pedal being “so long” that he had “no brakes”.
“The other thing is that he had a heat soak in the brakes, I think it was after the stop, and that is why the pedal went long and then recovered immediately after when he got more air cooling it again,” Wolff detailed.
Antonelli’s podium finish, on top of George Russell’s latest setback, means the youngster has an outside chance of clinching the world title at the United States Grand Prix next week.
Additional reporting by Ronald Vording
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