Kamal Ghorui
Kimi Antonelli created history on Saturday after securing pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver ever to achieve the feat in Formula One. The 19-year-old Mercedes driver delivered a stunning lap during qualifying in Shanghai, setting a time of 1min 32.064sec. With this result, Antonelli broke the long-standing record held by Sebastian Vettel, who was 21 when he took pole position for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. Antonelli’s performance also helped Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team secure a front-row lockout, as championship leader George Russell qualified second, just 0.222 seconds behind his teammate. Russell’s result came despite a setback during the final qualifying session when his car got stuck in gear on the opening out lap of Q3, forcing him to briefly return to the pits. Once the issue was fixed, he had time for only one flying lap and could not improve enough to challenge Antonelli’s benchmark.
Behind the Mercedes pair, the Scuderia Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc secured third and fourth positions respectively, forming the second row for Sunday’s race. The third row will feature the two McLaren Formula 1 Team drivers, with Oscar Piastri qualifying fifth and reigning world champion Lando Norris taking sixth place. Further down the order, Pierre Gasly placed seventh for Alpine F1 Team. Max Verstappen endured a difficult session and managed only eighth place for Red Bull Racing, continuing a challenging weekend for the team. The final two spots in the top ten went to Isack Hadjar in ninth and Oliver Bearman in tenth for Haas F1 Team. Earlier in the day, Russell had won the sprint race after an intense early battle with Hamilton. The victory helped him extend his lead in the drivers’ championship to 11 points over teammate Antonelli and Leclerc, while Hamilton sits four points further behind. Sunday’s race will run over 56 laps at the Shanghai International Circuit, setting up an exciting contest with Mercedes locking out the front row and Ferrari and McLaren close behind.
