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There was an inescapable sense of joy and satisfaction for Kimi Antonelli as he became the youngest pole sitter in Formula One history. Tellingly, there was an air of vindication from his Mercedes principal, Toto Wolff, as the teenage protege came good when it mattered by claiming the top spot for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Italian took pole by beating his older and more experienced teammate George Russell into second, albeit after the Briton endured a technical problem in Q3 and had time to set only one quick lap.
Antonelli was ecstatic, of course, but Wolff was no less punchy. He had faced criticism after drafting Antonelli straight into Mercedes last season but on Saturday Antonelli delivered on all that promise and has every chance now to convert it into a debut win on Sunday.
“Many said the kid was too young to be in a Mercedes, we should have prepared him otherwise,” Wolff said. “The kid did good today.”
A fair assessment. Antonelli is the youngest driver to take pole at 19 years, six months and 17 days old, beating Sebastian Vettel’s record, which had stood for 18 years since 2008. The youngster, tousled-haired and growing out of his still boyish looks, had to hold his nerve to deliver, especially as Russell’s travails made him the team’s lead shot at the top.
Lewis Hamilton – who starts Sunday’s race from third on the grid for Ferrari – hailed the youngster’s impressive feat. “I have to say a big congratulations to this big lad here, to Kimi,” the British driver said. “It’s an amazing achievement. He took my seat and he hit it hard from the get-go and so it’s just really great to see him progressing. He really deserves it and a great record. It’s going to take a while for someone to ever get close to that one.”
Across both his final two laps Antonelli was unbeatable and, while Russell did claim second after Mercedes worked frantically to fix an electrical problem, Hamilton was beaten into third. His Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc finished in fourth, both more than three-10ths down on Antonelli, no little improvement on their deficit in Australia. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were in fifth and sixth.
Russell did well to lock out the front row given his car had been stuck in first gear but he had already taken pole and then the win in the first of this season’s sprint races held earlier on Saturday morning after a feisty battle with Hamilton.
Mercedes’ second front-row lockout indicated that over the single lap they are still the class of the field even as they were pushed closer than in Melbourne.
Russell, who leads the world championship and had been dominant in the buildup, had come to a grinding halt on his opening lap in Q3.
The weight fell on Antonelli to set the pace for Mercedes and he duly opened with a marker, taking provisional pole with a 1min 32.322sec lap. Leclerc and Hamilton could not match him but Piastri and Norris did at least push, taking second and third just over two 10ths back.
Mercedes had worked furiously on Russell’s car and after running repeated electrical resets – like turning a phone off and on again, as Wolff noted – did manage to get it running for one shot at pole. On his last run Antonelli improved to 1min 32.064sec, Hamilton went second three 10ths back, as Russell completed his lone effort. He hurled his Mercedes at it but it was not quite enough on cold tyres and without full battery charge. He took second, two 10ths down on his teammate after a thrilling finale.
Pierre Gasly was seventh for Alpine, Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar eighth and ninth for Red Bull, with Ollie Bearman in 10th for Haas.
Earlier Russell had won the opening sprint race, with Leclerc second and Hamilton in third for Ferrari. Norris was in fourth for McLaren and Antonelli in fifth. Verstappen had a poor, slow start and could manage only ninth for Red Bull, with his teammate Hadjar in 15th.
Russell did manage a good getaway, with the team focused on improving their starts after the Australian GP, but he was immediately faced by a fierce attack from Hamilton as the pair traded the lead. While the Ferrari showed improved pace, the Mercedes once more demonstrated its superiority in optimising its energy management across a lap.
As in Australia, once the Mercedes pulled away from a wheel-to-wheel fight it swiftly opened a lead. Until a late safety car closed up the pack, Russell had put five seconds on Leclerc, by then second.
