MOTORSPORT – ITALIAN teenager Kimi Antonelli became the youngest Formula One driver to take pole position for a full grand prix after qualifying fastest for Mercedes in China yesterday as teammate George Russell hit car trouble.
The 19-year-old qualified 0.222 seconds faster than his championship-leading teammate, who secured the front-row lockout with his one final flying lap after a rare setback for the dominant team of the sport’s new engine era.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, a strong position for the seven-times world champion who can hope for a quick start today.
Antonelli, who has yet to win a grand prix, was already the youngest polesitter in any format after leading qualifying for last year’s Miami sprint.
But in Shanghai yesterday he demolished Sebastian Vettel’s previous grand prix record that the German set as a 21-year-old in 2008.
“It was a pretty clean session, so I’m really happy,” said Antonelli, who finished second in the Australian season-opener won by Russell last weekend.
“I saw he (Russell) had the issue and tried to keep my focus to stay calm and deliver a good lap.”
Antonelli was already on provisional pole but went even faster with his second effort to stop the clock at one minute 32.064 seconds.
Russell came to a halt on track at the start of the final phase and complained over the radio that there was no battery and he could not shift gear.
The Briton managed to get the car going again and returned to the pits where mechanics worked flat out to get him back out before the chequered flag.
“Definitely damage limitation,” said Russell, who won the earlier sprint to go 11 points clear at the top but was staring at 10th on the grid until the dying seconds.
“Q2, the front wing broke, we were wrapping our heads around that. Then obviously went out in Q3, car stopped on track, car wasn’t restarting, couldn’t change gear.
“Starting the last lap I had no battery, no tyre temp, no nothing. But the team have done a really great job to get us into this position, it could have been much worse.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified fourth with the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and reigning champion Lando Norris fifth and sixth.
Pierre Gasly qualified seventh for Renault-owned Alpine with an unhappy four-times world champion Max Verstappen eighth for Red Bull and the Dutch driver’s new teammate Isack Hadjar ninth.
Oliver Bearman completed the top 10 for Ferrari-powered Haas, continuing a strong start to the season by the young Briton.
Williams, Aston Martin and newcomers Cadillac were the teams whose drivers failed to progress from the opening phase.
Cadillac’s experienced Finn Valtteri Bottas outqualified Aston’s Lance Stroll while Williams continued to struggle with an overweight car.
“Terrible!” Williams driver Alex Albon shouted in frustration over the car radio after qualifying in 18th position.
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