Kimi Antonelli will start from pole position this Sunday in Shanghai, becoming the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history. Behind him, George Russell and the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will make up the first two rows.
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The Italian prodigy achieves a resounding feat: at just 19 years and 6 months old, Kimi Antonelli becomes the youngest driver to take pole for a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix.
He thus breaks Sebastian Vettel’s record, set at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, by nearly three years. Antonelli is also the first Italian to take an F1 pole since Giancarlo Fisichella in 2009 at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.
Alongside Antonelli, his teammate George Russell will occupy second place on the starting grid for the Chinese Grand Prix. Scuderia Ferrari completes the front rows with Lewis Hamilton in third and Charles Leclerc in fourth position, ready to take advantage of their usually fast starts to join the fight for the podium from the first corners.
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McLaren dominates the third row
The third row will be all McLaren, with Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris. The two British drivers will try to take advantage of their positions to gain places against the dominant teams and score valuable points for the constructors’ championship.
Max Verstappen, for his part, will start from eighth place, illustrating Red Bull’s persistent difficulties this weekend. The world champions must fight against car handling issues and insufficient pace to stay in the top 3 on the grid.
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