{"id":930300,"date":"2026-10-12T13:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T13:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/930300\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T13:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T13:50:10","slug":"ill-put-a-pillow-under-his-butt-how-toto-wolff-wants-to-solve-kimi-antonellis-track-limits-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/930300\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ll put a pillow under his butt\u2019 \u2013 How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli\u2019s track limits problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes<\/a> Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff has joked\u00a0Kimi Antonelli<\/a> needs \u201ca pillow under his butt\u201d to better see the white lines on track, following the Singapore Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Such a sanction wouldn\u2019t have cost the championship leader anything \u2013 he finished third with a comfortable 16-second gap to Lando Norris<\/a> \u2013 but the jeopardy still left Wolff a little too uneasy to his taste.<\/p>\n

Asked by Motorsport.com if we were seeing a different phase in Antonelli\u2019s progress, given the Italian has been limiting the damage with a less dominant Silver Arrow lately, Wolff acknowledged: \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas 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 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat stresses us. Half the race we already have three strikes, but it also shows that he’s pushing the limits a lot.<\/p>\n

\"Andrea <\/p>\n

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Joe Portlock \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI think how he’s driven that is mature and good. We talked about it and he said, \u2018I’ve just got to keep my calm here and make sure that I finish the race\u2019. So, handling a difficult car at that stage and trying to develop it and learn, it’s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

On lap 32, Antonelli reported \u201cI feel something leaking between my feet\u201d, briefly sparking reliability concerns, but Mercedes couldn\u2019t see anything of note on the data.<\/p>\n

When addressing the media moments after the race, Wolff was none the wiser.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe liquid, we don’t know,\u201d the Austrian said. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, there was an explanation to Antonelli\u2019s complaint about his brake pedal being \u201cso long\u201d that he had \u201cno brakes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Wolff detailed.<\/p>\n

Antonelli\u2019s podium finish, on top of George Russell<\/a>\u2019s latest setback, means the youngster has an outside chance of clinching the world title at the United States Grand Prix next week.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercedes Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff has joked\u00a0Kimi Antonelli needs \u201ca pillow under his butt\u201d to better…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":930301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[3032,49,48,578,576,577,90689,1881,90688,82,319589],"class_list":["post-930300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-marina-bay-street-circuit","tag-mercedes","tag-singapore-gp","tag-sports","tag-u2018iu2019ll-put-a-pillow-under-his-buttu2019-u2013-how-toto-wolff-wants-to-solve-kimi-antonelliu2019s-track-limits-problem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=930300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}