Kimi Antonelli took a jubilant pole position ahead of Sunday’s Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, following a reliability issue for George Russell in Q3.
Q1
The cars lined up at the end of the pit lane ahead of the green light, with a late queue jumper in the form of Valtteri Bottas pushing in front of Franco Colapinto. Leading the 21 car queue onto the track, the field was split on tyre choice of soft and mediums. Ferrari went as far as to split their drivers, Leclerc on soft, Hamilton on medium. The two Mercedes, however, in the opening minutes remained in their garage.
Bottas’ first lap was quickly usurped as the track quickly ramped up. Early medium tyre laps indicated this was not the lap for the job, Oscar Piastri at the tiop of the timesheets with just over ten minutes left, the two Audi’s in second and third. In the lower order, both Aston Martins, and both Cadillacs were joined by the two Mercedes who had yet to set a lap. Once they were complete and had moved into their now customary top two positions, this is put Colapinto and Hamilton into the drop zone, following a sideways moment for the Briton on his lap.
Hamilton’s next lap comfortably took him into the top three, leaving Williams in the danger zone. Arvid Lindblad became a casualty forced to pit due to an issue with his Racing Bulls. The Briton was now on the cusp of the elimination zone with three minutes remaining. Red Bull were also a surprise risk, having set their first times on mediums, sacrificing a precious set of new softs. At the chequered flag, Carlos Sainz progressed, while the rest failed to clear Q1. A small victory for Cadillac however saw Bottas qualify ahead of Lance Stroll.
Eliminated: Sainz, Albon, Alonso, Bottas, Stroll, Perez
Q2
Kimi Antonelli led the field out at the green light for Q2, all cars now adorning soft tyres, though they took to the track at a more leisurely pace. The top runners took to the track immediately, while the midfield chose for a slightly delayed start. Unsurprisingly, Russell led the field once the first runs were complete, from the Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc, the two McLarens ahead of the Red Bulls.
Towards the drop zone, Haas and Audi were leading the battle to reach Q3. The margins in the midfield were tight, drivers needing to extract every ounce of performance from their car to have any chance to progress. Pierre Gasly moved onto eighth with less than ten minutes to go, Bearman now in sixth. This put pressure on the front-runners, forcing them to leave the garage for another run. There was now less than a tenth of second between the new top three of Leclerc, Russell and Hamilton.
With two minutes to go, the two Red Bulls were at risk of dropping out of the top ten, the two Audi’s applying pressure. Hulkenberg missed out by the smallest of margins, Hadjar unable to move past tenth. The Frenchman’s blushes were spared by a spin by Gabriel Bortoleto. Both Audis were eliminated, as were Esteban Ocon’s Haas, both Racing Bulls, and Franco Colapinto, the latter by just 0.005s.
Eliminated: Col, Hulk, Ocon, Lawson, Lind, Bort
Q3
George Russell had his front wing replaced ahead of Q3, following concerns of damage from the Briton. Antonelli led out his teammate at the green light, with Russell once again the favourite for pole position. But he crawled to a halt at the exit of Turn 1, though able to get it moving. The onboards indicated he was stuck in first gear, his session looking to be over. This gave Antonelli a golden ticket, who took provisional pole.
Behind him, the two Ferraris failed to dislodge the young Italian on their first runs. The two McLarens then bumped the Ferraris back, Oscar Piastri holding the advantage over Lando Norris at the end of the first runs. The two Red Bulls were next, followed by Bearman, Gasly and the still garage-stranded Russell. Drivers returned to the garage for the lull ahead of the final laps, while work continued on Russell’s car.
With less than four minutes to go, the cars took to the track for their last attempt. Mercedes pulled off a miracle and got Russell out. The gaps between the top runners on their laps were in milliseconds. Antonelli was first, extending his advantage by 0.258s. Norris fell to third, half a second behind, Leclerc into second, quickly usurped by Hamilton. But all eyes were now on Russell. Wrestling his W17, he needed to find a tenth of a second in the final sector, unable to dethrone his teammate, taking second.
Top 10: Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Hadjar, Bearman
READ MORE: George Russell admits being ‘off guard’ by Lewis Hamilton onslaught in F1 Chinese Sprint
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