Antonelli Leads Team to Triumph at China Grand Prix, Russell Overcomes Obstacles
Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli becomes the youngest driver to set pole position in Formula 1 history by leading team-mate George Russell at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Antonelli becomes the youngest ever polesitter for a full F1 grand prix [Getty Images] Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver to set pole position in Formula 1 history by leading team-mate George Russell at the Chinese Grand Prix. Russell ended up 0. 222 seconds adrift of the Italian after a race against time to solve a gearbox problem with his car that threatened to leave him 10th on the grid.
Mercedes managed to repair Russell's car just in time to get him out for a final lap and he managed to sneak ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. McLaren locked out the third row on a two-by-two grid with Oscar Piastri ahead of world champion Lando Norris. Alpine's Pierre Gasly took seventh ahead of the troubled Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
Briton Oliver Bearman secured the final spot in the top 10 for Haas. What happened to Russell? Russell described his second place as "damage limitation" after a litany of problems through qualifying.
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 ended up third fastest behind Antonelli and Leclerc after he suffered a broken front wing, for reasons as yet unclear.