Kimi Antonelli clinched pole position in Shanghai ahead of teammate George Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to become the youngest ever pole sitter in Formula 1 history.
Mercedes dominance continues
At only 19 years old, Kimi Antonelli has taken his maiden pole position for a Grand Prix and becomes the youngest driver in history to do so. Despite being quite a margin behind teammate George Russell in the earlier sessions, Antonelli managed to clinch pole away from him by only 2 tenths.
For teammate George Russell, qualifying didn’t come without its issues. At the end of Q2, Mercedes replaced the front wing of Russell’s car due to some suspected damage, which they hoped would fix the problem. However, early on in Q3, Russell stopped on track as there were various issues with his car. He couldn’t shift gear, the battery had little to no power, and everything was going wrong for the Mercedes driver.
Russell managed to get back going again and spent the majority of the session in the pits, before finally going out to complete a lap. Given all the issues he’d faced with the car, his efforts weren’t quite enough to top Antonelli’s time.
Hopes for Hamilton
At a place he openly loves, Lewis Hamilton has out qualified teammate Charles Leclerc to line up in P3 on the grid for tomorrow’s race, with Leclerc just behind him in P4. Hamilton will be looking to take his maiden podium with the team, if not a win, in tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
Struggles down at Red Bull
It’s not the start to the season Red Bull would have wanted as both drivers failed to place anywhere near the front row. In Q1 Max Verstappen had to sacrifice an extra set of soft tyres in order to ensure he would make it through to Q2, behaviour that is uncommon for such a driver and team.
Off the back of a pretty disappointing run in Australia, the team are clearly struggling to match the pace of the frontrunners.
On the up at McLaren
It was a much more positive time for McLaren during qualifying. Though Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are only down in P5 and P6, they were up there with the likes of Hamilton and Leclerc throughout the session. After the heartbreak that was the home race he never got to complete last time out, this is Piastri’s chance to really get a feel for the new car and show what he can do.
Bearman into Q3
Haas driver Oliver Bearman is having a brilliant start to the season so far. After scoring points in Australia last week and then again in this morning’s sprint, Bearman has once again made it into the top 10 in qualifying for what looks to be a promising race tomorrow. Consistently being 2 to 3 tenths per lap ahead of older teammate Esteban Ocon, it is clear that Bearman is thriving.
Problems further down the grid
After looking promising in Q1 and being on track for a great lap in Q2 to get him through to Q3, Gabriel Bortoleto qualified in only P16 as a spin off into the gravel on the final corner caused his flying lap to end prematurely. The incident brought out yellow flags, and therefore hindered the efforts of drivers such as Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad who were coming up behind him on their laps.
It was a difficult day for Williams as driver Carlos Sainz qualified down in P17, with teammate Alex Albon even further back in P18. The team could be heard on the radio saying they got the most they could out of the car, and they need to look ahead to tomorrow to see what they can do.
Feature image courtesy of Formula 1