Antonelli youngest polesitter after Russell issues in China
Antonelli's new record - he is 19 years and 212 days old - beat the previous held by Sebastian Vettel, who was 21 years and 72 days old when he took pole at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. Antonelli said he was "very happy" but accepted that he might well not have taken pole had Russell had a problem-free qualifying. He said: "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 problems through qualifying. The championship leader said: "It was a crazy session. Front wing broke at the end of Q2.
The team weren'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 better than I was expecting when I started the lap with no battery and tyre temperature. Really happy to be here because I could have been down in 10th. " 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 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.