Kimi Antonelli becomes Formula 1’s youngest driver to start on pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver will start in P1, sharing the front row slot with his teammate and championship leader George Russell. Former Silver Arrows driver Lewis Hamilton is P3 for Ferrari.
While attempting to score back-to-back poles, Russell came to a stop on track and, while he was able to get the car going again, he was unable to change gear. The Mercedes driver had to crawl back to the pits, opening the opportunity to a different polesitter this time around.
Antonelli went fastest in Q3 with a time of one minute, 32.322 secinds, and later improved to one minute, 32.064 seconds to set a benchmark for the other drivers to beat.
Lewis Hamilton was a keen challenger and set a time that was 0.315 seconds off, but Russell was able to get back on track for one final last-minute lap. Thus, Antonelli faced an agonising wait – one that paid off as Russell was only 0.222 seconds slower to lock out the front row for Mercedes.
Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will start on the second row for Ferrari, while the McLarens were both on row three. Oscar Piastri led Norris by 0.06 seconds in the battle for fifth on the grid.
Pierre Gasly interrupted the two-by-two nature of the grid by outqualifying the Red Bulls, as Max Verstappen was almost a second away from pole. The four time champion took eighth, ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman in the Haas.
Nico Hulkenberg missed out on Q2 by just 0.002 seconds, while Franco Colapinto was another 0.003 seconds behind as the two just missed out on the opportunity to prise Hadjar out of the top ten.
Esteban Ocon was P13, but his attempts to improve were denied by a late yellow flag. This also affected Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, who fell out in Q2 too. Lindblad had escaped elimination in Q1 after pitting with an issue, but the rookie was given the all-clear to continue.
The cause of the yellow flag was Gabriel Bortoleto, who looked set to improve from P16 before suffering a spin at the final corner. As the rear locked up, the Audi driver was pitched into a uncontrollable slide towards the barrier – although the gravel trap slowed him down enough to result in only a minor hit with the wall.
Carlos Sainz briefly looked to have made it into Q2 and moved up to P14 after his final lap, but soon dropped back into the elimination zone when Lindblad, Colapinto and Bortoleto all improved on their laps.
Thus, the same six cars were knocked out in both the sprint and the main race qualifying. Alex Albon also dropped out, moaning about his session as “terrible” as struggles continued at Williams.
Fernando Alonso is P19 on the grid, while Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas outqualified Lance Stroll. Sergio Perez, who has been suffering with reliability issues all weekend, will start last.
So congratulations to Andrea Kimi Antonelli with his first career pole position in Formula 1. This is his ‘second’ P1 after achieving a front row slot at the Miami sprint race last year. But this time, the Mercedes earned the number one spot on merit over his rivals.
Chinese Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:32.064
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.286
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32.415
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.428
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.550
6 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.608
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:32.873
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:33.002
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:33.121
10 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:33.292
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:33.354
12 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:33.357
13 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:33.538
14 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:33.765
15 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:33.784
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:33.965
17 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:34.317
18 Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:34.772
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Marin-Honda 1:35.203
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:35.436
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:35.995
22 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:36.906
Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver in Formula 1 history to take a Grand Prix pole position in China, as Mercedes team mate George Russell claimed second on the grid after an earlier car issue hampered him in Q3.
Antonelli beat the previous record set by Sebastian Vettel at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, with the 19-year-old set to start at the very front for Sunday’s 56-lap race.
The Italian out-qualified Russell by 0.222s after posting a 1m 32.064s with his final effort.
Russell, who won Saturday’s Sprint, was only able to set one flying lap in the final segment of Qualifying having suffered a car issue which brought him to a halt on track briefly.
The Briton recovered back to the pits stuck in first gear, and with the problem rectified, set a single lap at the end of proceedings.
Ferrari locked-out the second row, Lewis Hamilton finishing fractionally ahead of Charles Leclerc, as Oscar Piastri headed McLaren team mate and reigning World Champion, Lando Norris.
The top 10 was completed by the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, followed by Haas’ Ollie Bearman.
Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg missed out on a spot in Q3 once again as in Australia and was joined by Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Haas’ Esteban Ocon, and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
Gabriel Bortoleto was P16, the Audi driver having suffered a spin at the last corner on his final effort.
Eliminated in Q1, Carlos Sainz led Williams team mate Alex Albon after another difficult session, with Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac sandwiched between the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, as Sergio Perez completed the order.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/antonelli-beats-russell-to-become-f1s-youngest-ever-grand-prix-polesitter-in.54Dx0kX9QiRCnSgIsxR71t
Qualifying in China went anything but smoothly for George Russell after he suffered a front-wing breakage in Q2 and then briefly halted on track at Turn 5 during Q3. Russell had won the earlier sprint race from pole position but looked far less assured during what proved to be a fraught qualifying session.
Mercedes says it is still investigating the cause of the issue which caused Russell’s car to go into anti-stall mode shortly after leaving the garage, halt on track, and then remain stuck in first gear after he got it started again. With time ticking away, the team essentially had to resort to the time-honoured IT department strategy of turning the car off and then back on again: running through various default settings, swapping the steering wheel and effecting a reset.
When the car was fired up again it was still stuck in first gear, but another reset enabled it to drop into neutral and engage gears normally again. Russell departed the garage with just over two minutes on the clock and managed to place his Mercedes second on the grid, 0.222s off team-mate Kimi Antonelli.
“It was just a crazy session from the end of Q2,” said Russell.
“The front wing broke and the team weren’t sure if it had broken or not. I was pretty convinced it had, and there was a bit of stress around that and changing the front wing.
“And then as soon as I went out on the track, I could tell something wasn’t right, stopping on the track, trying to restart the car. It didn’t restart. Then it started later, got back and couldn’t shift gears.
“And then obviously we just made it on track with seconds to spare. So really, really happy to be sat here right now because I could easily have been down in P10 without a time on the board.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-yet-to-understand-problem-that-nearly-left-russell-10th-in-china/10805130/
Max Verstappen lamented Red Bull’s “undriveable” Formula 1 car as he suggested “every lap is like survival” after qualifying eighth for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Verstappen finished ninth in Saturday morning’s sprint after a disastrous start dropped him down the order like a brick, and will be eighth on the grid after Red Bull was all at sea with its RB22.
The Milton Keynes squad prided itself on its dramatic car set-up turnarounds between practice and qualifying last year, but despite turning the car upside down once more there were no miracles.
Both in the sprint and in grand prix qualifying Verstappen suffered the nightmare of every race car driver – a car that both oversteers and understeers and won’t communicate what it will decide to do next.
It left Verstappen nine tenths off pole in ninth, with team-mate Isack Hadjar another tenth in arrears.
“We changed a lot on the car, and it makes zero difference,” Verstappen explained. “The whole weekend we’ve been off, the car is completely undriveable. I cannot even put a bit of a reference in. Every lap is like survival. The balance is really disconnected.”
When asked where his issues come from, he replied: “A little bit on the engine, but that’s not probably the biggest side. We lose so much with the car at the moment around here. Plus, also I cannot push at all because the car doesn’t let me. So that’s why I don’t really feel in control of the car. It’s just really not how it should be. From lap one of this new regulation I’ve not enjoyed this car, for sure.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/max-verstappen-every-lap-is-survival-in-undriveable-red-bull-f1-car/10805100/
Kimi Antonelli admitted that he was “feeling great” after claiming his maiden Grand Prix pole position during Qualifying in China, with the result seeing the Italian become the sport’s new youngest-ever polesitter.
There were mixed fortunes for the Mercedes drivers across Q3, as George Russell experienced a brief stoppage on track when the segment got underway. While he was able to return to the pits and rejoin the session, it left the Briton with only enough time for one flying lap.
Antonelli had already set the benchmark by this point – and Russell’s sole effort was not enough to topple his team mate, the youngster’s time of 1m 32.064s ultimately bettering Russell by 0.222s.
This makes Antonelli the youngest driver to clinch pole at 19 years, six months and 17 days old, beating previous record holder Sebastian Vettel who was 21 years and 73 days old at the time of his pole at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
Asked for his feelings after beating the record – and for his reflections on the session in general – Antonelli said: “I’m feeling great. It was a good session, a good way to end the day after a difficult Sprint.
“Of course there’s a lot of excitement, but the focus is already ahead on tomorrow because there’s a big, big opportunity and I just really want to maximise it.”
In terms of his thinking for Sunday’s Grand Prix, Antonelli is aiming to have a clean getaway – having suffered a difficult start during Saturday’s Sprint.
“I think the start is going to be interesting,” the teenager explained. “I’m going to try not to overcomplicate things, just going to try to have a clean start and the pace is good.
“Just need to also manage the tyres the best way possible because graining could be quite severe tomorrow, so just going to try to stay on top of that. But the main thing is a clean start and then we’ll see from there.”
Speaking earlier after jumping out of the car, Antonelli also shared an insight into how he managed to remain focused when Russell experienced problems.
“I saw he had an issue but I just tried to keep my focus, to stay calm and try to deliver a good lap, which it was at the end.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/antonelli-feeling-great-after-becoming-youngest-ever-grand-prix-polesitter.3zm5sUgdoEFO25K4LBkFi0