Mercedes could not have asked for a more positive qualifying session at the Formula 1 Chinese GP. This Saturday (14), Kimi Antonelli secured his first pole position, while George Russell starts alongside him on the front row.
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The German team has dominated this start of the 2026 season. After sweeping the round in Australia, the scenario in Shanghai is similar, and after a victory and a top-5 in the Sprint race, the main race follows the same rhythm.
Antonelli will start from the position of honor on the grid, becoming the youngest driver to achieve a pole in F1 at 19 years and 201 days, surpassing Sebastian Vettel’s record.
“I am very happy with what we achieved today. Getting my first pole position in a GP, as well as becoming the youngest driver to start on pole position in the history of the sport, is incredible. The team did a fantastic job from start to finish, and I want to thank everyone for the effort,” he said.
“The Sprint race this morning didn’t go exactly as we expected. I didn’t have a clean start and then got involved in a contact on the very first lap. Even so, our pace was solid and we managed to react and score some points. Fortunately, qualifying was smoother. I kept improving with every lap and managed to put in two clean laps in Q3 to take pole position,” he continued.
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“I am looking forward to tomorrow’s GP; the Ferraris showed good pace in the Sprint and George was also incredibly fast. It promises to be an interesting afternoon,” he added.
Meanwhile, Russell, who won the Sprint and starts second on Sunday, 15, said that “firstly, I want to congratulate Kimi on the excellent job he did today. Securing pole position in F1 is incredibly difficult and the fact that he is the youngest to do so is a testament to the driver he is.”
“On my side, qualifying was quite chaotic. I had an issue with the front wing at the end of Q2, but we managed to change it for a new one just before the start of Q3. I still felt something wrong when I went out for my warm-up lap and had to return to the pits for a full check. Fortunately, the team managed to get me back on track with just one flying lap to make the best of the situation,” he pointed out.
“Considering that, second place is still a good result and we couldn’t have done better than securing the front row for the team. The focus for tomorrow is to have a clean start. In Melbourne and in today’s sprint practice, we saw how strong the Ferraris are. We expect them to push us, so we will need to be at our best. We know we have the race pace to fight for the win, but everything will depend on the execution on Sunday,” he concluded.
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