Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying: Kimi Antonelli become youngest Formula 1 driver to take pole
F1 NewsSaturday, 14 March 2026 at 09:02
Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli took pole for the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix becoming Formula 1's youngest driver to do so and beating teammate George Russell who suffered from gearbox issues.
Thus, the young Italian, in his second season in the top flight managed to break a long standing record when Sebastian Vettel took pole at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at the age of 21. Antonelli is 19.
At the start of qualifying, the course seemed to be set for another dominant showing from Mercedes and Russell, but the team who are having the best start to an F1 season in years showed the first sign of vulnerability.
Russell suffered from a gearbox issue at the start of Q3 which meant he was only able to do one lap which was only good for second, a decent effort nonetheless for the Briton who also suffered from a broken front wing in Q2.
Behind the Mercs, Lewis Hamilton's resurgence continued as the seven-time F1 Champion was best of the rest and more importantly better than his teammate albeit by a small margin.
In all cases it was a decent session for Hamilton who was third with Leclerc fourth in the sister car.
McLaren showed some flashes of speed but not consistent enough to close on the front rows and as a result, Oscar Piastri was fifth fastest ahead of Lando Norris in sixth.
Pierre Gasly seems to be enjoying his the Mercedes power unit at the back of his new Alpine chassis and made the best of that and qualified seventh fastest ahead of former teammate and four-time F1 Champion, Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman had another miserable session and was eighth fastest, almost a second off the pace and ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar who was ninth.
Ollie Bearman, once again, exceeded expectations to qualify tenth for Haas.
What the top three said
Speaking after bagging his maiden proper pole, he was on pole for Miami's Sprint Race in 2025, he said: "It was a pretty clean session, so really happy. George had an issue in Q3 and it would have been cool to see him with two sets [of tyres].
"I saw he had the issue and tried to keep my focus to stay calm and deliver a good lap," he added.
"Definitely damage limitation," Russell said of his session. "Q2, the front wing broke, we were wrapping our heads around that. Then obviously went out in Q3, car stopped on track, car wasn't restarting, couldn't change gear.
"Happy standing here because starting the last lap I had no battery, no tyre temp, no nothing. But the team have done a really great job to get us into this position, it could have been much worse.
"Really glad and well done to this guy [Antonelli] on his first pole," the Briton concluded.
As for Hamilton, he commented: "It was a really tough qualifying. A bit harder this one with the wind. It's so gusty.
"Putting your lap together was challenging. Charles was putting in great laps, these guys [the Mercedes drivers] were putting in great laps.
"I'm really happy to be up here. Grateful to be up here with these guys. They have been rapid so far this season.
"The engineers did some great work over the break [after the Sprint] and we managed to get a bit closer to these guys, so that's a real positive to take that forward."
"It's still going to be a challenge but I'm sure we will have some fun. I'm looking forward to it," he said of his expectations of Sunday's Grand Prix. "We learned a lot in the Sprint.
"So let's hope tomorrow is not as windy and our goal is to break the gap between these guys [the Mercedes drivers] somehow," the Ferrari driver concluded.
Q1: Leclerc leads early on
The session started in clear conditions with track temperatures at 32 degrees Celsius much higher than those recorded on the Sprint Race earlier in the day.
The air temperature was at 18 degrees as cars lined up in the pitlane with Valtteri Bottas and Franco Colapinto leading the way.
Unlike Sprint Qualifying, there was freedom in tyre choice and some drivers went for the Medium tyres on Q1 like Verstappen, Hadjar, Hamilton, Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon.
Verstappen went to the top on his first run but then Norris went faster on used Softs only for Piastri to go even faster on used Softs as well. Nico Hulkenberg then split the McLarens in second with Gabriel Bortoleto going third fastest. Both Audis were on new Softs.
Hamilton on the other hand had a moment of oversteer at Turn 9 but managed to catch it. He was on used Mediums.
Hamilton said his car feels good aside from snaps under braking... How is that good Lewis?
Quite a slide for Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari 💨💨#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/l5iYYocyy1
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2026
The came Antonelli on new Softs with Russell behind him on the same compound. The Italian goes six tenths ahead of Piastri but Russell bettered him by 0.043s.
Top 16 order after first runs: Russell - Antonelli - Piastri - Hulkenberg - Bortoleto - Colapinto - Hadjar - Norris - Verstappen - Gasly - Leclerc - Lawson - Bearman - Ocon - Arvid Lindblad - Carlos Sainz.
With the second runs starting and six minutes away from the end of Q1, Racing Bulls instructed Lindblad to box saying they had an issue with the car. He rejoined with less than three minutes remaining.
In the end, Leclerc went fastest in Q1 with a lap time of 1:33.175, 0.087s faster than Russell in second as Antonelli was third fastest, 0.130s behind.
The rest of the top 16: Verstappen - Hamilton - Norris - Bortoleto - Piastri - Hadjar - Colapinto - Bearman - Gasly - Lindblad - Ocon - Hulkenberg - Lawson.
Out of qualifying were led by Sainz who was 17th fastest, missing out by 0.178s to Lawson and was ahead of his teammate, Alex Albon who was 18th.
Fernando Alonso was 19th in the Aston Martin ahead of Bottas who was 20th as Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez were 21st and 22nd respectively.
Q2: No Audi in the top ten
Without any delays, the remaining 16 drivers hit the track with most of the field going a set of scrubbed set of Softs while Red Bull gave both their drivers new red-walled tyres.
🟢 Q2 IS GO! 🟢
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2026
We're back out on track and it's Kimi Antonelli who's first out 😎#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/kP7QuP8JnG
Antonelli went fastest first then Russell followed and went even faster with Leclerc managing second as Hamilton came over the finish line and dropped his teammate to third.
The Hadjar went fifth as Norris took that position from him as Piastri went seventh while Verstappen followed and slotted in fifth.
Order after the first runs was: Russell - Hamilton - Leclerc - Antonelli - Verstappen - Bearman - Norris- Gasly - Hadjar - Piastri - Hulkenberg - Ocon - Colapinto - Lawson - Lindblad - Bortoleto.
Bearman is currently up in P6 after the first Q2 runs 🔼
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2026
An impressive weekend so far from the Haas driver!#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/FrMqN9UwwX
The drivers did not wait much to get going for the final runs in Q2 with new Softs for everyone.
In the final seconds of the session, Bortoleto spun in the final corner and brought out the Yellow Flag. He managed to make his way back to the pits but nor before ruining some laps.
🟡 YELLOW FLAG 🟡
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2026
Gabi Bortoleto is in the gravel at the final corner, but he gets going and returns to the pits! 😮💨#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/kDYVbKyU8v
In the end, Antonelli was fastest with a lap time of 1:32.443, 0.043s faster than Leclerc in second and 0.080s faster than Russell in third. The latter complained about understeer on his final run.
The rest of the top ten were: Hamilton - Norris - Gasly - Verstappen - Piastri Bearman - Hadjar.
Missing Q3 started with Hulkenberg who was 11th fastest missing out by a painful 0.002s to Hadjar.
Colapinto was 12th fastest in the Alpine ahead of Ocon who was 13th in the Haas with Lawson in 14th.
Lindblad and Bortoleto were 15th and 16th respectively.
Q3: A new record!
Q3 started with an issue for Mercedes as Russell brought out a Yellow flag and stopped on the side of the track.
He managed to get his W17 restarted and limped back to pits and reported he couldn't shift and that he was stuck in first gear.
George Russell STOPS on track... 😱
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2026
He gets going soon after but George reports that he can't shift gears! #F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/k9RNuGXojR
Antonelli in the meantime started his first flying lap and went fastest with Leclerc going next and posting the second fastest time with Hamilton going in third after his first lap was all over the place with several snaps.
Bearman followed and went fourth as Piastri and Norris went second and third while Verstappen slotted in sixth with Hadjar in seventh.
Antonelli currently holds the top spot in Q3, with Russell in the garage! 🤯
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2026
Piastri is two tenths away from the provisional pole-sitter 👀#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/3uYcDJrW06
Provisional pole for Antonelli with the rest: Piastri - Norris - Leclerc - Hamilton - Verstappen - Hadjar - Bearman - Gasly - Russell (no time)
With less than four minutes on the clock the drivers were back out on track but not Russell as Mercedes mechanics frantically working on his W17 even giving his a spare steering wheel.
The Championship leader finally emerged out of the garage with a little over two minutes on the clock.
In the end Antonelli took pole with a lap time of 1:32.064, which was over two tenths quicker than Russell who was second after managing just one lap in Q3.
Hamilton was the lead Ferrari, third fastest, and three and half tenths off the pace while Leclerc was less than a tenth behind in fourth.
The McLarens were in the region of half a second behind Mercedes with Piastri and Norris fifth and sixth respectively.
Gasly was seventh fastest with Verstappen down in eighth with Hadjar behind him in ninth as Bearman completed the top ten.
Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying Provisional Classification
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