Mercedes' 21-year-old Kimi wins fastest lap in Chinese GP!
With his teammate and early frontrunner neutralized for most of Q3, Kimi Antonelli made history as the youngest pole sitter at 19 years old.
Antonelli Secures the Record for Youngest Pole Kym Illman - Getty Images In the second grand prix of his second season on the grid, Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver to capture a pole position, thanks to a 1:32. 064 lap around the Shanghai International Circuit. Antonelli now holds the record with his first pole position coming 201 days after his 19th birthday.
Antonelli usurped Sebastian Vettel as the youngest to start from the front of a grand prix. The German driver survived a rainy qualifying in Monza to put it on pole for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at 21 years 73 days old. The next day, he would back it up with a win, becoming the youngest driver to win in F1 history at the time.
His record was broken eight years later by Max Verstappen at 18. It looked like grand prix qualifying for the second race was about to follow the same formula as the opening round and sprint qualifying earlier this weekend, with the two Mercedes of Antonelli and Russell pulling away from the field with times in Q3. Instead, Russell suffered early stalling on track three minutes into Q3.
While Russell, the pole sitter in the first two events, sat in the Mercedes garage waiting for repairs, Antonelli went to the top of the boards and stayed. Antonelli's first and second run times were enough to keep the other eight drivers at bay, while Russell made it out for a last-minute attack on pole position with seconds to spare. The British driver's best time fell 0.