Toto Wolff says the kid did good after Kimi Antonelli took pole for 2026 Chinese Grand Prix

Mercedes put Antonelli in Formula 2 in 2024, skipping Formula 3, and promoted him to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the 2025 F1 season after the Briton switched to Ferrari.

Early struggles in F1 put Antonelli in the spotlight, with many questioning whether promoting him so soon was a smart decision.

However, the young Mercedes driver has been on an upward curve so far, showing his talent and that he only needs more experience, which is what he is accumulating now under the watchful eyes of Wolff and race engineer Peter Bonnington, or Bono, who used to engineer Hamilton at Mercedes.

An elated Wolff reflected on Antonelli's maiden F1 pole and said: "Many said the kid was too young, the kid was too young to be in a Mercedes; we should have prepared him otherwise. And the kid did good today.

"I am so happy for Kimi to be on pole, but if the kit lets the driver down like on George's side... you want to see them head to head and see what they can do. So it's a shame George couldn't do the lap," he added.

George Russell suffered from a gearbox issue, which meant he could only do one lap in Q3, which meant he was over two tenths off pole in second place.

"It looks like it's electrical," Wolff said of the problem that ruined Russell's qualifying. "We had to power cycle the car three times—it's basically like an iPhone, switch it on, switch it off—and then the third time it went. I didn't think it was going out, but then, to my surprise, we still did the lap."

While Mercedes have another front-row lockout, Hamilton in the fast-starting Ferrari is third, with Charles Leclerc in fourth posing a threat.

Wolff commented: "Let's see how they get away from the start. The Ferraris will be pushing like crazy tomorrow, like they did today and in Melbourne, and it's certainly going to be entertaining." (Source: Sky Sports F1)