Chinese GP qualifying: Antonelli takes pole after Russell issues
Antonelli’s new record, aged 19 years and 212 days, surpasses the record set by Sebastian Vettel, who was aged 21 years and 72 days when he took pole position at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
Antonelli said he was “very happy” but acknowledged that Russell might not have taken pole if he had qualified without problems.
He said: “George had a problem so it probably could have been a different story but I’m happy to be on pole for the first time.”
Russell described second place as “damage limitation” after a series of problems in qualifying.
The championship leader said: “It was a crazy session. The front wing broke at the end of the second quarter. The team wasn’t sure if it was broken, but I was sure it was. Then I got stuck on the track and managed to get back in time. It was more of a case of completing a lap.”
“When I started the lap without P2 and tire temperature, second place is better than I expected. I’m really happy to be here because I could have been in 10th place.”
In the first session, Leclerc became the first driver to beat Russell in a competitive session this year, by less than 0.1 seconds from the Briton.
Later in the second session, Russell was third fastest behind Antonelli and Leclerc after his front wing flap broke.
Russell’s car, which entered the final session with a new wing, stalled on the start lap because the gearbox refused to change gears.
Antonelli passed his teammate as he clocked the fastest time on the first flying lap, 0.3 seconds faster than Leclerc.
After frantic work in the garage, Mercedes managed to repair Russell’s car by following a series of default procedures, such as turning the car off and on and replacing the steering wheel.
He got out just in time to go out for a spin, but his hasty preparations meant the car wasn’t in optimum condition for a while.
But Antonelli had his own problems in his last run; He had the same front wing problem that Russell had in the second quarter.
Hamilton, who battled Russell for the lead in the opening laps of the sprint race earlier on Saturday, was 0.351 seconds off pole position and said he hoped he could challenge Mercedes again in the grand prix.
“It was a really tough qualifying session,” Hamilton said. “It’s a little harder because of the wind. The weather is very stormy today. It’s very difficult.
“I’m really happy and grateful to be here with these guys. The engineers did a great job at halftime and were able to get a little closer to these guys.”
“It’s still going to be challenging, but I’m sure we’ll have some fun. We learned a lot in the sprint race and our goal is to somehow close the gap on these guys.”
The McLarens were just 0.1 seconds behind the Ferraris and Norris said: “We’re happy to be close to them, it gives us a good chance for tomorrow.”
However, Verstappen was upset as he fell almost a second behind the Red Bull.
“We make too many changes to the car and it doesn’t make any difference,” said the four-time world champion.
“We were off all weekend. The car is completely unusable. I can’t even make the slightest reference. Every lap is like surviving.”
