Shanghai: The 19-year-old Italian driver Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday, making him the youngest driver in Formula One history to accomplish this feat.
Antonelli led a Mercedes front-row lockout alongside George Russell, breaking the previous record held by Sebastian Vettel, who was 21 when he achieved pole for the Italian Grand Prix in 2008.
“I am pleased with the lap I completed,” Antonelli informed reporters. “And I am truly delighted to be starting on pole for the first time.”
The Mercedes duo, similar to their performance in Australia the previous weekend, demonstrated dominance in Shanghai.
Antonelli completed the lap in 1 minute 32.064 seconds, finishing 0.222 seconds ahead of championship leader Russell, who had triumphed in the sprint race earlier that day.
“It was a fairly clean session,” Antonelli remarked.
“It was enjoyable because, for the first time in a qualifying session, I was able to consistently find lap times each time I went on track.”
The Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will occupy the second row of the grid for Sunday’s race, having qualified third and fourth, respectively.
Following them are the two McLarens, driven by Oscar Piastri and world champion Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen managed only the eighth-fastest time, continuing a challenging weekend in a visibly struggling Red Bull.
Pierre Gasly finished seventh in the Alpine, with the second Red Bull driven by Isack Hadjar in ninth, and Oliver Bearman’s Haas completing the top ten.
Russell encountered a gear issue on his initial out lap in Q3, necessitating a return to the pits.
Once the problem was resolved, he had time for only one flying lap and was unable to surpass his teammate.
“I am really happy for George, who faced an issue there,” Antonelli commented regarding his teammate.
Russell expressed relief at having set a lap time just at the end of the session.
“It is definitely damage limitation,” Russell stated.
“In Q2, the front wing broke, and then in Q3, I stopped out on track and was unable to change gears,” he explained.
“On the last lap I had no battery, no tyre temp or anything. Really happy to be sat here right now because I could easily have been down in P10 without a time on the board,” he added.
Hamilton was grateful to be on the second row.
“I had a big snap on the first Q3 lap and was quite a bit down, and then the last lap was okay,” said the seven-time world champion.
“I think there’s a couple of tenths missing probably, but I’m just grateful to be up here,” he added.
Ferrari have been quick out of the blocks at the start of races so far and Hamilton said he would be eyeing up the two Mercedes in front of him on Sunday.
“I’m sure we’ll have some fun, I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
Leclerc was satisfied to be alongside his Ferrari teammate.
“There wasn’t much more for us, for me. I’m struggling a lot on this track for this season, it’s always been the case,” said the Monegasque.
“It’s not that I’m not trying, because I’m putting a lot of effort into it, but I just struggle coming into qualifying.”
Russell earlier won a thrilling sprint race after a back-and-forth scrap in the opening laps with Hamilton, who eventually finished third behind Leclerc.
It enabled the Mercedes driver, who won the opening race in Australia, to extend his championship lead to 11 points over teammate Antonelli and Leclerc. Hamilton is a further four points back.
Sunday’s Grand Prix will be raced over 56 laps of the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit.
