Mercedes strike twice as Antonelli breaks record

George Russell won the first Sprint of the season. It wasn’t an easy achievement for the Mercedes driver, who was locked in a fierce battle with Lewis Hamilton in the early stages. The seven-time world champion did everything he could to beat Russell, producing a brilliant fight in the opening laps, but eventually had to yield to the superior pace of his rival and was later overtaken by his teammate Charles Leclerc.

While most drivers opted for the medium compound, others chose the hard tyre (Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad, and Fernando Alonso), while Isack Hadjar was the sole driver to start on the softs. After Nico Hülkenberg triggered a safety car at roughly two-thirds race distance, many drivers decided to pit and switch to the soft compound. Lawson chose to stay out on the hards without pitting. The positions he gained thanks to this decision earned him two points and a seventh-place finish. Right behind him, in eighth, was Oliver Bearman, who completed the entire race on the Medium tyre, also without making any pit stops.

Following a superb sprint race, the teams and drivers prepared themselves for the qualifying session. Both Red Bull drivers, Hamilton, and Hülkenberg chose to make an initial run on the medium compound, likely to assess the changes made to their respective cars. The rest of the field headed straight out on softs in Q1, followed immediately by the remaining drivers for their second attempts.

As always, Q2 proved to be an incredibly tense session, though several drivers were unable to improve their times in the closing stages after Gabriel Bortoleto triggered a yellow flag in the final sector.

During Q3, Russell faced early mechanical issues which prevented him from setting a lap time during his first run. He managed to record a time during his second attempt, but it was not enough to claim pole position. That honour went to his teammate Antonelli, who in doing so became the youngest driver ever to secure a pole position.

Prior to this qualifying session, the record was held by Sebastian Vettel, who was 21 years and 72 days old when he claimed his maiden pole at the 2008 Italian GP. Antonelli broke that record by taking pole at the age of 19 years, 6 months, and 17 days. It was a magnificent achievement by the young Mercedes driver, who outpaced both Russell and Hamilton. Consequently, the front row for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix will be a Silver Arrows lockout.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Kimi Antonelli by athlete Lin Xiaojun. The ice skater won a gold and a bronze medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the 1500m and 500m events. His most recent Olympic appearance was at Milan–Cortina 2026.

While we saw sunny conditions in China today, tomorrow is expected to be more overcast, with maximum temperatures likely to drop by around 2 degrees on Sunday.

Kimi Antonelli

“I am very happy with what we achieved today. To take my first Grand prix pole position, along with the milestone of becoming the youngest polesitter in the sport’s history, is incredible. The team did an amazing job throughout, and I want to thank everyone for their efforts.
 
“This morning’s Sprint race didn’t quite go how we wanted it to. I didn’t make a clean start and then had contact later on the opening lap. Our pace was solid though and we were able to fight back to score some points. Thankfully, Qualifying was smoother. I was improving run after run and was able to put together two clean laps in Q3 to take pole position.
 
“I am looking forward to tomorrow’s Grand Prix; the Ferraris had good pace in the Sprint and George has also been incredibly quick. It promises to be an interesting afternoon ahead.”

DARIO MARRAFUSCHI – PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR

“Today, for the first time this weekend, all the available tyre compounds were used. This occurred during the Sprint, where three cars remained on Hard tyres, avoiding pitting during the safety car period and gaining several positions as a result. Hadjar was the only driver on Soft tyres, while the rest of the field were on Mediums.

“Drivers using the C2 compound were able to directly assess the impact of graining on an solution that had not yet been tested. However, the three drivers who opted for this compound may have limited their strategic options for the Grand Prix, particularly in the event of neutralisations, as they will only have one set left for Sunday.

“A one-stop strategy is clearly the fastest for tomorrow. Whether to start on the Mediums or the Softs will most likely depend on grid position or a driver’s willingness to take a more aggressive approach at the start. In both cases, the longer stint to the chequered flag will be on the hard tyres, to be fitted between laps 17 and 23, or between 15 and 21. The two options are very close in terms of overall race time.

“With a two-stop strategy, the fastest combinations involve completing the final two stints on two sets of hard tyres, provided teams still have them available for the race. On paper, starting on the Soft appears more effective than starting on the Medium.

“It’s important to note that, over the first two days of practice, no driver used the red-marked tyre for more than nine laps, except for Hadjar’s attempt in the Sprint, though his run was compromise by damage to his car. Therefore, the degradation level of the C4 with a full fuel load and one third of the race still to go remains to be verified.”

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Written by

Jarrod Partridge

Jarrod Partridge is the Co-Founder of F1 Chronicle and an FIA accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following Formula 1. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered F1 races at circuits around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every race report, driver profile, and technical analysis he writes.

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