Kimi Antonelli has stormed to pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix, the Italian following up on his maiden pole last time out in China to put himself at the front of the grid ahead of Mercedes team mate George Russell.
After looking on the pace throughout Qualifying, Antonelli continued that form by securing provisional pole on his first run in Q3 – and while he failed to improve on his final lap, the youngster had done enough to secure P1 on the grid with his time of 1m 28.778s.
Russell could not match the other Silver Arrows car and had to settle for P2, ending the session 0.298s adrift, while Oscar Piastri proved to be the pair’s closest competitor in third for McLaren. Charles Leclerc had also looked on for a strong lap but suffered a snap of oversteer on his last effort, leaving the Ferrari racer in fourth.
Lando Norris placed in fifth for McLaren, ahead of the other Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.
The big story from Q2 was the exit of Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver’s run of consecutive pole positions across the last four years at Suzuka coming to an end as he found himself eliminated in P11, having reported that his car was “completely undriveable”.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon also missed out on the top-10 shootout in 12th, as did Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg (13th), Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson (14th), the Alpine of Franco Colapinto (15th), and Carlos Sainz, who made it past Q1 for the first time this season in the Williams (16th).
There was a surprise in Q1 when Ollie Bearman dropped out of the session, the Haas driver exiting in P18 behind the Williams of Alex Albon.
Also eliminated in the opening segment were the Cadillac cars of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas in 19th and 20th, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at the rear of the pack.
More to follow
