Qualifying Report: Antonelli Soaks Up 'Incredible Feeling' After Securing Pole in Japan

Antonelli Claims Back-to-Back Poles

Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver to claim back-to-back pole positions in Formula 1 history, setting a 1:28.778 at Suzuka to lock out the front row for Mercedes. Team-mate George Russell qualified P2, nearly three-tenths adrift.

Antonelli said afterwards: "It was a good session, I'm happy with it. I think I was able to improve lap by lap. That first Q3 lap was good. Second lap was looking strong but then at Turn 11 I locked up and lost quite a bit of time so it was a shame."

On the Suzuka fans and the circuit itself: "The fans here in Japan are pretty incredible. There's so much passion and racing at a historic track is an incredible feeling. The track is unbelievable to drive with this kind of car plus the fans give us a little bit more of a boost."

Russell's Setup Struggle

George Russell admitted to a difficult qualifying session after a small rear suspension adjustment before the session backfired. "The car was transformed for the worse," he said, describing "weird vibrations from the rear." Russell adapted mid-session: "I could then adjust the front wing to compensate. But the car was just totally out of balance from the entry of the corners to the mid-corner."

Despite the issues, he still secured P2 — a testament to the W17's fundamental pace advantage.

Piastri Leads the Chase

Oscar Piastri delivered McLaren's best qualifying of 2026, slotting into P3 with a 1:29.132 — just 0.354s off pole. "I think that was more or less all we had," Piastri said. "The last lap of Q3 wasn't great but the first lap was pretty solid so all in all, I'm pretty happy with that. It's nice to get a bit closer to Mercedes so hopefully we can stay there tomorrow."

On McLaren's progress without upgrades: "The car hasn't changed in the three races we've had so it doesn't really feel that different. I think maybe this track suits us a little bit better, and I think we've been able to exploit the power unit a bit better and just optimise things a bit more."

Ferrari: Leclerc P4, Hamilton P6

Charles Leclerc qualified P4 with a 1:29.303, reporting that a moment of oversteer actually helped his lap time. "I actually gained a lot of lap time by carrying that amount of speed in that corner, so actually it was a good thing that I had this moment," he explained. On Sunday's prospects: "With a good start we can maybe put them under a bit of pressure, but I truly think that at one point they will get away like they've done in the past two races – they've got too much of a pace advantage."

Lewis Hamilton qualified P6 (1:29.567), noting: "I think we did a good job with the set-up – the car was feeling pretty decent. It's just we're obviously lacking a lot of speed in the middle sector and a little bit in the last sector."

Verstappen's Q2 Exit

Max Verstappen was eliminated in Q2, qualifying only P11 — over 1.2 seconds off Antonelli's pole time. "Yeah not good. We thought we fixed a little bit in FP3 but then going into qualifying it was again very difficult," the four-time champion said. "Just sliding a lot but also at the same time not having the rotation mid-corner everywhere, so that makes it quite a complicated balance."

When asked whether setup experiments could fix the issues, Verstappen was blunt: "Yeah but I think we have bigger problems than what we had last year. Some parts of the car at the moment are not working how we want them to work."

Full Qualifying Top 10

1. Antonelli (Mercedes) 1:28.778 · 2. Russell (Mercedes) +0.298 · 3. Piastri (McLaren) +0.354 · 4. Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.525 · 5. Norris (McLaren) +0.631 · 6. Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.789 · 7. Gasly (Alpine) +0.913 · 8. Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.200 · 9. Bortoleto (Audi) +1.212 · 10. Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.331