becoming the youngest grand prix driver in history to take pole position<\/a>.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
\u201cMany said the kid was too young,\u201d Toto Wolff reflected to Sky Sports. \u201cThe kid did good today.\u201d<\/p>\n
At just 19 years, 6 months and 18 days old, Antonelli has eclipsed the previous record by a considerable margin \u2014 prior to this weekend, Sebastian Vettel had been the youngest ever to start from pole when he lined up for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix from P1 aged 21 years, 2 months and 11 days old.<\/p>\n
With debutants restricted to 18 years and over, the pole has secured Antonelli a piece of history unlikely to be bettered.<\/p>\n
It earns Antonelli a piece of history unlikely to be bettered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m very happy because at the end it\u2019s just the beginning, so obviously there\u2019s a lot more to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to tomorrow. The car is feeling really good, the car is strong, so there\u2019s a lot to play for tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just super happy with today.\u201d<\/p>\n
If he were to convert to victory on Sunday, he\u2019d become the second youngest winner in the sport\u2019s history, behind only Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a long way to go to the chequered flag.<\/p>\n
MERCEDES IS (ALMOST) FALLIBLE<\/p>\n
There was a moment, spanning just a few minutes, when Mercedes\u2019s weekend seemed to be falling apart.<\/p>\n
George Russell, the pole favourite, had somehow broken his front wing at the end of Q2, and when he attempted to get Q3 underway, an electrical problem forced him to stop on track.<\/p>\n
He was able to limp home in first gear, where in his garage the car was power cycled \u2014 effectively restarted \u2014 three times before it started working normally again.<\/p>\n
He rejoined Q3 with just enough time to set one lap, and he was fast enough to secure the front row behind Antonelli.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no battery starting my lap and my tyres were cold,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to be sat here right now. It was more a case of getting a time on the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew Kimi\u2019s been really strong and things were far from optimised my side, so it was more a case of get the car across the line and make sure I\u2019m starting in a sensible position.<\/p>\n
\u201cP2 was much better than I expected \u2026 I was expecting to be further down the order. So, as I said, just really glad to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no string of unreliability to point to yet, and rivals would recognise that hoping for such a thing would be extremely ambitious. But it\u2019s also interesting that the team didn\u2019t solve the problem per se; it just restarted the car a few times, changed the steering wheel and hoped it would sort itself out.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a reminder that we\u2019re very early in this set of regulations and reliability can still play a role, even for a team as dominant as Mercedes.<\/p>\n
Russell wins Sprint, Piastri 6th | 00:56<\/p>\n
VERSTAPPEN IN SURVIVAL MODE<\/p>\n
Everyone was having a bad day relative to Mercedes \u2014 notwithstanding Russell\u2019s problems \u2014 but some teams were having worse days than others.<\/p>\n
Red Bull Racing was having a very day indeed.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen qualified eighth for the sprint, a massive 1.734 seconds off the pace. He had a terrible start that dropped him to 20th, and then he recovered to a scoreless ninth at the end of the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not a lot of words at the moment, to be honest,\u201d he told Sky Sports after the 100-kilometre race. \u201cEverything that could go wrong went wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe start is one problem that we have to fix, but then after that the balance was of course all over the place.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the highest degradation for everyone out there \u2014 it was just uncontrollable \u2014 plus some other bits on the car that were not well prepared. We just need to get our stuff together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team attempted to revitalise the car in the three hours between the sprint and grand prix qualifying, but Verstappen qualified eighth again and an improved but still painfully distant 0.938 seconds off the pace.<\/p>\n
He was far enough off the pace that even Pierre Gasly in the unfancied Alpine will start ahead of him on the grid.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same,\u201d Verstappen said of his recalcitrant car. \u201cWe turned it upside-down, and it was exactly the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m expecting exactly the same as tomorrow \u2014 not much, where we are, P7, P8.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll probably fighting a bit with Pierre, but that\u2019s it. There\u2019s not more in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dutchman then launched into a laundry list of problems with his car.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly tough to drive. There\u2019s no balance. I cannot lean on the car. Every lap is a fight. It\u2019s just very difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I did another lap on a tyre set it felt awful. I honestly think it\u2019s going to be quite tough tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past sometimes we\u2019d throw it upside down and it would work. Now nothing works. It\u2019s just not nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot push. Every lap is honestly survival for me. I\u2019m not enjoying it at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just very inconsistent. I cannot build a reference through qualifying. Whatever lap I do, I\u2019m like, \u2018All right, that\u2019s it\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I go 0.4 seconds faster? Maybe. Can I go 0.4 seconds slower? There\u2019s a big chance as well, because it\u2019s just all over the place. It\u2019s just incredibly difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s quite the assessment just months on from Verstappen\u2019s improbable title charge, but Red Bull Racing looks locked into a lonely fourth place in the order.<\/p>\n
Russell claims sprint pole in Shanghai | 01:08<\/p>\n
PIASTRI\u2019S AWKWARD SPRINT ENCOUNTER RILES UP EX-DRIVER<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri got his first racing laps under his belt on Saturday in the sprint, though he was good for only sixth place at the flag, earning him three points.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d shadowed Lando Norris closely through the opening phase of the sprint, but the late safety car, triggering a flurry of pit stops, cost him places when he had to double-stack behind his teammate.<\/p>\n
One the places he lost was to Antonelli, who had been having a rough morning. The Italian had suffered an atrocious start and then punted Isack Hadjar, earning him a 10-second penalty.<\/p>\n
Piastri jumped the Mercedes at the safety car restart, but he was shortly afterwards told by his team to hand the position back \u2014 Antonelli had complained that Piastri had passed him before the finish line, which is the point at which racing resumes after the safety car. Passing behind the safety car is a serious offence, and the stewards had opened an investigation.<\/p>\n
Piastri complied, and the investigation was dropped, but he didn\u2019t have another chance to pass the faster Mercedes.<\/p>\n
What exactly happened?<\/p>\n
Though there\u2019s no passing allowed before the finish line, the regulations make an exception when \u201cany F1 car slows with an obvious problem\u201d.<\/p>\n
Antonelli was slow exiting the final corner because he ran wide, though his car was still in contact with the white line.<\/p>\n
But he also didn\u2019t have an obvious problem, which is why Piastri was told to give the place back.<\/p>\n
It was an awkward encounter. The finish line is close to the exit of the final corner, and it\u2019s almost certain that the leader is up to racing speed by then \u2014 as was clearly the case here.<\/p>\n
As Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion, said on the Sky Sports broadcast: \u201cWhat should Piastri have done? Hit the brakes and create mayhem behind? Something has to be looked into there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Villeneuve was mistaken, however, to say Antonelli had also committed a foul by falling more than five car lengths behind the car ahead \u2014 the regulations mandate a maximum of 10 car lengths between drivers before the resumption. It\u2019s an imprecise measurement, but footage suggests Antonelli was at least roughly within that distance.<\/p>\n
This exact scenario almost falls into a little grey area in the regulations, and it might have been interesting had the matter made it to the stewards, who may have found a way to show some leniency and set a precedent for future similar circumstances. Instead the matter ended with Piastri giving back the place.<\/p>\n
The Australian brushed off the incident anyway, instead pointing out that McLaren wasn\u2019t really in the race with Mercedes anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we just need to find a lot more lap time,\u201d he told Sky Sports. \u201cI think it\u2019s pretty clear that we just didn\u2019t have the pace to match the Ferrari or Mercedes, and we were quite a lot quicker than everyone else [behind], so that\u2019s probably the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Absolute no no’ Piastri has to relent | 04:04<\/p>\n
CAN FERRARI\u2019S STRONG STARTS WIN THE RACE?<\/p>\n
A Ferrari car started fourth in Melbourne and again in the Shanghai sprint, and both times they made a play for the lead.<\/p>\n
In Melbourne, Leclerc got into first place at the first corner.<\/p>\n
In Shanghai, Hamilton took first place by lap 9 thanks to his great start.<\/p>\n
On neither occasion, however, could they hold that place.<\/p>\n
Whereas in Melbourne we never got to see how the Russell-Leclerc duel might have played out thanks to the virtual safety car, in Shanghai we saw the Mercedes driver figure out how to get a move done and make it stick within the confines of the regulations.<\/p>\n
It was all about getting it done in the braking zone on the back straight \u2014 the old-fashioned way, some might say \u2014 without overusing the battery so that he had some electrical charge left to use defensively into the first turn, where Hamilton had been easily taking back the place with an around-the-outside move.<\/p>\n
Mercedes\u2019s superior pace eventually paid out.<\/p>\n
But the picture has changed a little bit over the course of the weekend.<\/p>\n
Mercedes clearly has a fast qualifying car, but in race conditions the Ferrari looks close \u2014 close enough to be a hassle at least.<\/p>\n
And rather than having just one car starting on the second row, on Sunday both Ferrari drivers will start directly behind the Mercedes teammates.<\/p>\n
Would having two Ferrari cars in the lead be enough of an advantage for the Italian team?<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d Russell said when asked if Ferrari was a genuine threat. \u201cThe race pace, it looks really close between us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw this last week and said it in Melbourne \u2014 I think if they were on the same strategy as me, I\u2019m not convinced I would have won the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday [in the sprint] it was a real tussle between us, and I was pushing at the end of those last three laps and Charles finished the race 0.7 seconds behind me. With one more lap, it would have been a fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a walk in the park for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s problem, though, is twofold.<\/p>\n
One is it\u2019ll have to make the right strategy calls on Sunday \u2014 always a challenge for the Italian team \u2014 and this weekend the tyres are wearing out, enough that most drivers pitted during the sprint.<\/p>\n
The other, though, is that the team must understand what\u2019s making its car work so well in the race but not in qualifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a big part I don\u2019t think we can explain just yet,\u201d Leclerc said. \u201cThis is something we are working on to understand from where it\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s a huge difference in qualifying, and there\u2019s nothing in our car that kind of explains it, and it\u2019s strange also that in the race we are then suddenly back in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. These rules are quite complex, so there are many things we need to look at and try to connect the dots, but at the moment I don\u2019t think we have the full explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not exactly the ideal condition in which to enter a race, but if it works, it works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrea Kimi Antonelli was the third youngest driver in history to make his debut. Still only 19 years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12295,1724,64,63,689,143987,174544,267718,512,267708,267713,267711,9239,267715,70678,13038,75747,3875,21739,18901,267712,267714,2101,13207,21772,267720,825,647,267716,677,88575,267719,16280,21749,267706,267717,25598,106482,851,267709,4933,2643,85,267710,136762,208048,7663,660,267721,267707],"class_list":["post-540121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-braking-zone","tag-car-lengths","tag-car-slows","tag-china","tag-day-relative","tag-dramatic-qualifying-session","tag-driver-figure","tag-eastern-asia","tag-fast-qualifying-car","tag-final-corner","tag-finish-line","tag-front-wing","tag-george-russell","tag-grand-prix-driver","tag-grand-prix-qualifying","tag-grey-area","tag-improbable-title-charge","tag-italian-team","tag-jacques-villeneuve","tag-lap-time","tag-laundry-list","tag-max-verstappen","tag-melbourne","tag-obvious-problem","tag-oceania","tag-pit-stops","tag-pole-favourite","tag-pole-position","tag-race-pace","tag-recalcitrant-car","tag-right-strategy-calls","tag-safety-car","tag-safety-car-restart","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sensible-position","tag-shanghai","tag-sky-sports","tag-sports","tag-sprint-pen","tag-superior-pace","tag-survival-mode","tag-talking-points","tag-victoria","tag-victory-shot","tag-youngest-grand-prix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}