Andrea Kimi Antonelli admits he’s nonetheless studying the ‘risk-reward’ trade-off after taking record-breaking F1 pole place on the Chinese language Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old Italian beat Mercedes teammate George Russell in qualifying in Shanghai to turn into the youngest driver in F1 historical past to take pole place.
Antonelli took benefit of issues with Russell’s automobile and pulled away from the championship chief after only one lap in Q3, taking historic pole place by 0.222 seconds.
With this feat, Antonelli broke Sebastian Vettel’s file of being the youngest pole sitter in a Components 1 Grand Prix at 18 years previous.
“I knew he (Russell) was having issues, however I simply tried to remain targeted, keep calm and attempt to put in an excellent lap, which it was ultimately,” Antonelli mentioned after qualifying.
“I am very pleased, as a result of ultimately, that is only the start, and clearly there’s much more to come back.
“I am actually trying ahead to tomorrow. The automobile feels actually good, the automobile is robust, so we have to play quite a bit for tomorrow. However I am very pleased with at this time.”
Antonelli admitted there was nonetheless room for enchancment to get the perfect out of himself and his automobile in qualifying.
“It wasn’t simple. I used to be undoubtedly dissatisfied in Melbourne. I took such a beating and I used to be slightly behind in qualifying and the ultimate,” he defined.
“But it surely’s tough to go for it as a result of you might have such a quick automobile and you’ve got an awesome alternative and you do not need to miss that chance.
“In my case, I am nonetheless studying tips on how to enhance my risk-reward ratio, particularly in periods the place outcomes are much less vital, resembling FP3. So it is vital to seek out the proper stability to have the ability to keep momentum.”
“It is also vital that we are able to put issues along with a clear run from Q1 to Q3 in any state of affairs, even within the qualifying session.
“We’re nonetheless attempting to determine how we are able to obtain that, as a result of in the intervening time I really feel like perhaps we did nicely in Q1 and Q2, however Q3 wasn’t ok. We simply want to seek out areas to enhance there.”
Wolff hits again at Kimi’s age criticism
Antonelli made headlines when he was chosen to exchange seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who made his F1 debut with Mercedes in 2025 at simply 18 years previous and moved to Ferrari, the place he loved nice success.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff applauded critics, saying Antonelli’s efficiency justified the Silver Arrows’ choice to hurry him to F1.
“Lots of people mentioned this child was too younger, too younger to be in Mercedes, lots of people mentioned we should always have ready him in a different way. And at this time this child did nicely,” Wolff advised Sky Sports activities F1.
“I am very pleased for Kimi to get pole place, but when Package lets the drivers down like they did on George’s aspect… I would like to see them go head-to-head and see what they’ll do. So it is a disgrace that George could not run a lap.”
Relating to Russell’s downside, Wolff added, “It seems to be electrical. I needed to flip the automobile on and off 3 times. It is principally like an iPhone, you flip it on, you flip it off. And the third time it stopped.”
“I did not assume it will go unhealthy, however to my shock it was nonetheless circling.”
