Kimi Antonelli delivers for mentor Toto Wolff with a dominant Saturday at the Japanese Grand Prix

Wolff took a big risk with Antonelli, thrusting the 18-year-old into the deepend. Teammate to highly rated George Russell in the mighty Mercedes team. A year and a bit later, the move is proving to be a masterstroke as the youngster delivers for his mentor.

Clearly chuffed, Wolff told reporters after qualifying in Japan: “When you hear his radio communications and also on the intercom in the garage, it's just calm. Not putting himself under too much pressure. Putting that one lap in that is very good. Bono told him to ‘put a banker in’. Then he pushed it a little bit hard on the last one, and it wasn't so good. But it's really pleasing to see.”

Antonelli’s performance delivered Mercedes another front row lockout, as reported in Saturday’s qualifying session, where the young driver controlled proceedings with a clean Q3 lap while others faltered in changing conditions.

Wolff contrasted that execution with the more difficult session on the other side of the garage, where George Russell struggled after a late setup change: “We did a set-up tweak on the other side. Something we expected to have less impact than it had, and it put the car on the nose, so too much oversteer and that made it very difficult for him.”

Antonelli’s pole was built on consistency rather than a single standout moment, a trait that has quickly defined his approach in Formula 1. He explained the rhythm behind his session: “Yeah, I’m super happy with the session. It was a good one. It was a clean one, and I felt very good in the car.

"Every run, I was just improving and improving. It was a shame for the last lap because I locked up in Turn 11, but it was a good one as well. I’m really happy with the session, and now we’ll focus on tomorrow.”

That steady progression proved decisive in a session where many drivers struggled to improve on their final runs, with track evolution stalling and tyre preparation becoming increasingly difficult.

Antonelli detailed how he built the lap that ultimately secured pole: “I had a really clean session, it felt good. I had a strong Run 1, and then from there on, I just built the momentum. Obviously, it was a bit trickier than FP3, especially at the start of qualifying.

"I think the wind increased a little bit, and overall, the car felt a bit more difficult. But then we just tried to adapt, and we made some tweaks with aero balance and found a good compromise. Then the lap in Q3 was good. It was a shame for the last one, but overall it was a very strong session.”

Despite the internal gap, Mercedes still locked out the front row, with Russell salvaging second place after a compromised build-up. Wolff admitted the change had unintended consequences: “It’s probably the opposite. He needs to carry this into the race now, which is certainly a disadvantage, but these things happen.”

Russell’s recovery ensured Mercedes maintained control at the front, but the contrast between both sides of the garage highlighted how sensitive the new generation of car remains to setup changes.

Looking ahead to Sunday's race, Antonelli acknowledged the unique demands of Suzuka and the uncertainty surrounding race conditions under the new regulations: “Probably. I mean, we’ve seen obviously how much easier it is to follow and obviously when you get the overtake mode, how much more battery you can harvest and then deploy on the straights, so you never know, it can give good racing.

“But still, I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as China and Melbourne because obviously the track is quite a bit tighter and you don’t have as many straights where you can overtake. That’s why it’s crucial to have a good start and then we’ll see from there how the pace is going to be.”

From pole, Antonelli holds the advantage, but as Wolff cautioned, execution on Sunday will define whether Saturday’s dominance converts into victory. Nevertheless, he can rest easy now that he has his very own 'Max Verstappen', finally.
(Reporting by Agnes Carlier from Suzuka)