Antonelli beats Russell to Japanese Grand Prix pole
Kimi Antonelli took his second pole position in a row as he beat Mercedes team-mate George Russell in qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix. Antonelli was fastest throughout the session and beat Russell by 0. 298 seconds, despite not improving on his final run at Suzuka.
Russell also did not improve but still had enough to beat McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who will be joined on the second row by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. McLaren's Lando Norris was fifth after a troubled weekend so far, ahead of Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari, while Max Verstappen was knocked out in the second session and will start 11th. Antonelli's first lap in the final session was 0.
298secs quicker than Russell's. He was on course to improve on his final run but locked up into the hairpin and lost time. The 19-year-old Italian said: "Super happy with the session.
It was a good one, a clean one. And I felt very good in the car and every run I was just improving and improving. "Shame about the last lap after a lock-up in Turn 11 but it was a good one before that.
" Antonelli became the youngest driver to take an F1 pole position in China and is emerging as a serious threat to Russell in the championship - they start the race separated by four points, less than the margin between first and second places in a grand prix. Russell, who was complaining of a lack of rear grip throughout qualifying, was quicker than Antonelli in the difficult first sector of the lap but lost out over the rest. "Really strange session," the Briton said.