A hotel pillow is not standard equipment in Formula 1. Yet that is the tool the Mercedes team boss jokingly says could fix one of the few flaws in a season that has gone almost perfectly for his young star.
Kimi Antonelli finished third at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, and pushed his championship lead over teammate George Russell to 102 points. The Italian, who is just 20, now sits on the edge of history.
His rise has been striking. He struggled through parts of his rookie campaign in 2025, but this year he has emerged as the dominant force on the grid.
Can Kimi Antonelli win the title in Texas?
Yes, the championship could be decided at the next race. The United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin takes place Oct. 25, and a title there would make him the youngest world champion the sport has ever had.
The math is tight, though. Kimi Antonelli would need to win in Austin while Russell finishes ninth or lower and Lewis Hamilton finishes fifth or lower. If that combination fails, more chances follow in Mexico, Brazil and beyond.
Max Verstappen remains mathematically alive but sits 119 points back. Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris are even further behind, and a win for Antonelli in Austin would eliminate all three regardless of where they finish.
Why are track limits stressing Mercedes?
Track limits have become a recurring headache. Kimi Antonelli received another final warning in Singapore, and one more violation would have triggered a penalty. It is a pattern that has repeated itself several times this season.
The team boss says the warnings create real tension on the pit wall, with strikes piling up by the halfway point of some races. His playful theory is that the young driver sits so low he simply cannot see the edge of the track. Slipping a pillow from the team hotel under his seat, he joked, might give him a better view.
Behind the joke sits a compliment. The constant warnings, he noted, also show how hard his driver pushes.
How did Kimi Antonelli turn a tough weekend into a podium?
Singapore was not a smooth outing. Kimi Antonelli lacked pace for much of the weekend and took fourth in Saturday’s sprint only after the two McLaren drivers collided.
In Sunday’s race, he radioed the team about problems he felt with the car. Rather than fade, he climbed from fifth to third with late passes on Norris and Hamilton, earning his 14th podium of the season.
The Mercedes boss praised that composure as a sign of maturity. He said the driver focused on staying calm and bringing the car home, while learning how to handle a difficult machine.
Verstappen, meanwhile, completed a perfect weekend by winning both the sprint and the main race. Russell started from the back of the grid after a power unit penalty and recovered to ninth.
Could the calendar change hand Kimi Antonelli the crown?
Possibly. Ongoing conflict in the Middle East has raised doubts about the final two rounds. Formula 1 could cancel the race in Qatar and replace the Abu Dhabi finale with a race at Imola in Italy.
That swap would remove 25 available points from the table and bring the title even closer for the Italian. The Mercedes boss says the team is not counting on it, and he wants the team to plan for six more races rather than four. The priority, in his view, is simply to keep scoring.
Whenever the moment comes, Kimi Antonelli appears ready for it. The only question left may be how soon he crosses the line.
