Kimi Antonelli secured second position on the grid for the first sprint race of the 2026 Formula 1 season this Friday (13) in Shanghai, China. The Italian completes the Mercedes front row alongside George Russell. After the session, Antonelli highlighted that starting the weekend on the front row is an important result for the team:
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“Securing a front row for tomorrow’s race is a good way to start the weekend. Congratulations to George on the Sprint pole as well; this continues our good form as a team since Melbourne. Despite this, we know there is still a lot of work to be done to improve. We will analyze all the data from Friday and study how we can put ourselves in the best possible position for the Sprint, but also for the all-important qualifying session.”
Antonelli also highlighted two factors that could influence the result of the short race: the starts and tire management. “Tire management can be challenging here, and our starts were a limiting factor last weekend; we need to put it all together to perform as best as possible and fight for the win and pole tomorrow.”
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The youngster positively assessed the car’s behavior throughout the day and believes this can help the team score good points in the sprint. “The overall positive is that the car behaved well all day. We need to keep it in that sweet spot and, if we can do that, I believe we can bring home strong points in the Sprint. I’m looking forward to racing tomorrow and continuing this first sprint weekend of the season.”
The sprint race in Shanghai is scheduled for 00h00. F1MANIA.NET follows the entire stage in real time.
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