Kimi Antonelli claimed pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix, completing another dominant display for Mercedes who have yet to be beaten to pole in the three opening races of the new Formula One season.
With his Mercedes teammate George Russell in second they also completed the team’s third straight lockout of the front row. Their nearest competitor was McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in third, a good result for the team but he was more than three-10ths of a second behind.
Charles Leclerc took fourth for Ferrari with his teammate Lewis Hamilton in sixth. McLaren’s defending world champion, Lando Norris, was in fifth.
With Red Bull still struggling to extract the best performance from their car there was however a shock and disappointment for Max Verstappen, who has taken pole and won the last four races in Suzuka. Verstappen was knocked out in Q2, managing only 11th with his teammate Isack Hadjar qualifying in eighth.
The Red Bull car was clearly a handful on Verstappen’s last quick runs. “I think there’s something wrong with the car mate,” he told his engineer. “It’s completely undriveable suddenly in this qualifying. Jumping in high speed on the rear suddenly.”
The pole completes an impressive back-to-back for the Italian, who claimed the top spot and the win at the last round in China and indicates he is very much in the title fight this season, despite it being only his second year in F1. Antonelli currently trails Russell by just four points in the drivers’ championship.
Antonelli and Mercedes once more demonstrated that the pace advantage they opened the season with remains formidable. The Italian’s first pole in Suzuka comes on the back of a second place and then his debut F1 win in Australia and China, where he proved he is enormously assured in the car which has not only superb pace and energy management but is also a stable platform in which Antonelli has great confidence.
It puts him in the best possible position to convert it into a win in Japan but he can expect a challenge from the off from the fast-starting Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc.
On this form, three races in and having now been tested on a range of circuits over the single lap discipline, the Mercedes looks to be an ominously formidable package.
On the opening runs in Q3 Antonelli and Russell set the early pace, with the Italian edging out his teammate by just under three-10ths with a 1minute 28.778second-lap.
Russell was clearly expecting more, having been complaining of a lack of rear grip during Q1. “I think we’re missing something here, we can’t be losing this much pace,” he told the team during Q2.
However it was McLaren who were pushing Mercedes hardest for these first runs, rather than Ferrari as had been expected. Piastri and Norris took third and fourth, the Australian also three-10ths down on Antonelli, with Leclerc and Hamilton behind them.
For the final laps Antonelli again went out first, followed by Russell, but neither could improve on their previous time. Piastri pushed hard but could also not make an impact. Behind them Leclerc threw himself at it with abandon and was quickest in the first sector, and he was on the edge through Spoon but it was not enough and while he did claim fourth, he was still six-10ths back on Antonelli.
Pierre Gasly was in seventh for Alpine, Gabriel Bortoleto an impressive ninth for Audi and rookie Arvid Lindblad also doing well to take 10th for Racing Bulls.
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