Chinese GP qualifying: Antonelli takes pole after Russell issues
Antonelli’s new report – he’s 19 years and 212 days outdated – beat the earlier one held by Sebastian Vettel, who was 21 years and 72 days outdated when he took pole on the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
Antonelli stated he was “very happy” however accepted that he may as properly not have taken pole had Russell had a problem-free qualifying.
He stated: “George had an issue, so probably could have been a different story but happy to be on pole for the first time.”
Russell described his second place as “damage limitation” after a litany of issues by means of qualifying.
The championship chief stated: “It was a crazy session. Front wing broke at the end of Q2. The team wasn’t sure it had broken but I was sure it had. Then got stranded on track and just made it back out in time. It was more a case of just getting a lap done.
“P2 is best than I used to be anticipating after I began the lap with no battery and tire temperature. Really blissful to be right here as a result of I might have been down in tenth.”
In the first session, Leclerc became the first driver to beat Russell in a competitive session this year with a time just under 0.1secs quicker than the Briton.
Then in the second session, Russell finished up third fastest behind Antonelli and Leclerc after he suffered a broken front wing flap.
Heading out for the final session with a new wing, Russell’s car stopped on track on his out lap as the gearbox refused to change gear.
Antonelli drove past his team-mate as he set the fastest time on his first flying lap, 0.3secs quicker than Leclerc.
After frantic work in the garage, Mercedes managed to fix Russell’s car by applying a series of default procedures such as switching the car off and on again and swapping out the steering wheel.
He got just out in time to set a lap but his hasty preparation meant the car was not in its optimal condition as he went for a time.
However, Antonelli had his own problems on his final run – he suffered the same front wing problem as Russell had done in Q2.
Hamilton, who tussled with Russell for the lead in the opening laps of the sprint race earlier on Saturday, was 0.351secs off pole and said he had hopes of challenging the Mercedes again in the grand prix.
“It was a extremely powerful qualifying,” Hamilton said. “A bit more durable with the wind. It is so good at present. So difficult.
“Really happy and grateful to be up here with these guys. Engineers did some great work over the break and managed to get a little closer to these guys.
“It’s nonetheless going to be a problem however I’m certain we will have some enjoyable. We realized lots within the dash race and our aim is to interrupt the hole to those guys one way or the other.”
The McLarens were just over 0.1secs behind the Ferraris and Norris said: “We’re blissful we’re near them, provides us an excellent shot at tomorrow.”
But Verstappen was downcast to be nearly a second off the pace in the Red Bull.
“We change lots on the automobile, and it makes zero distinction,” the four-time world champion said.
“The complete weekend we have been off. The automobile is totally undriveable. I can’t even put a little bit of a reference in. Every lap is like survival.”