Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff joked he will put a “pillow under the butt” of Andrea Kimi Antonelli after his repeated track limits offences at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Antonelli escaped the standard five-second time penalty despite breaching track limits on four occasions on his way to finishing third in Sunday’s race in Singapore to move to the verge of clinching his maiden F1 world title.
The stewards let Antonelli off for his fourth and final violation because he was battling an issue with the brakes on his W17 and was judged to have gained no advantage by running wide at Turn 7.
Wolff made light of the problem by offering a solution to help Antonelli better see the white lines on track.
Antonelli was pinged four times for track limits in Singapore
“Kimi, well driven. Well done. Maybe we need to have a little cushion under your a**e to have you sit higher with the track limits, but it was very good,” Wolff said to Antonelli over team radio after the chequered flag.
Speaking to reporters in Singapore, Wolff then made another joke before praising the 20-year-old Italian’s maturity.
"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 [the track],” Wolff said.
"So yeah, under his arse so he can see. That stresses us. Half the race we already have three strikes, but it also shows that he's pushing the limits a lot
“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.”
Kimi Antonelli is on the cusp of winning the F1 title
Antonelli could become F1’s youngest-ever world champion next time out at the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 23-25 October.
"I haven't looked at it from that perspective because at the moment I have the thought of how many points is it actually and when could he win it?" Wolff said.
"The aim must be to score points, not to lose too many on the others.
"And then it's going to come towards him. And whether that's in Mexico or Brazil or further down the line, we shall see.
"And I guess whether Qatar and Abu Dhabi happens at the moment, everybody says so. You need to go the direction of this is six more races to go and not four."
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