Kimi Antonelli overcame Mercedes teammate George Russell’s qualifying struggles to claim his second consecutive pole position at Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Building on the momentum from his first Grand Prix pole and race win in China two weeks ago, Antonelli carried his impressive form into qualifying by outperforming Russell in the final two practice sessions at Suzuka.
Russell, on the other hand, reported repeated problems with his car’s rear grip, and trailed Antonelli by an unusually wide margin in Q1 and Q2. Although he closed the gap somewhat in Q3, Antonelli’s impressive time of 1 minute 28.778 seconds on his first attempt at the decisive shootout proved to be 0.298 seconds better than his title-leading teammate’s final run.
Sky Sports F1’s Jenson Button said: “What an amazing lap! I was three-tenths of a second ahead of my teammate George Russell. Very, very impressive.”
“I feel like I saw a different Kim this weekend. He’s always been very fast, but he was consistent.”
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Watch Kimi Antonelli take pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix!
The Mercedes drivers were unexpectedly challenged by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the first two stages of qualifying, before the Silver Arrows dominated the race for pole at the crucial moment.
However, Piastri still continued his positive weekend, beating Leclerc to take third place, with Leclerc taking fourth after an error at the Spoon Curve in the middle sector on his more promising last attempt.
World champion Lando Norris, whose weekend was in jeopardy due to unreliable practice, continued to trail Leclerc throughout the weekend, finishing fifth in the other McLaren and Lewis Hamilton sixth in the second Ferrari.
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Max Verstappen’s nightmare start to the season continues with Q2 loss at Japanese GP
2026 was another disappointment for Max Verstappen, who labeled his Red Bull ‘undrivable’ after dropping out in Q2.
Verstappen, who has been on pole position at Suzuka for the past four years, will start this year’s race from 11th, three places lower than teammate Izak Hajjar, who qualified for Q3 and finished eighth, with the Dutchman struggling with the balance and handling of his RB22.
Pierre Gasly defeated both Red Bulls again and took an even better seventh place for the Mercedes-powered Alpine. Audi’s Gabriel Bortleto finished ninth, followed by British rookie Arvid Lindblad in 10th. It came after the Racing Bulls driver dropped Verstappen below the cut line in Q2.
However, fellow Brit Oliver Bearman, one of the early season’s star performers, dropped out in Q1 here, qualifying 18th for Haas, ahead of Cadillac and Aston Martin.
Antonelli gains momentum as Russell laments qualifying as ‘really weird’
In the roller-coaster first year of F1 in 2025, the teenager has only out-qualified the more experienced Russell for Mercedes three times, but so far this season he held a 2-1 lead early on Saturday.
Antonelli’s first Grand Prix pole position in Shanghai was certainly helped by a technical issue that forced Russell to stop briefly on track, but after an impressive performance in practice, Antonelli always looked like the Mercedes driver most likely to take the top spot at Suzuka.
While Russell was frustrated with his W17 throughout qualifying time, Antonelli set an impressive marker on the first lap of Q3, and although a lock-up at the hairpin slowed him down on his last attempt, his first attempt ultimately proved to be enough.
Kimi Antonelli beats George Russell to take consecutive pole positions in last two races
“I’m very happy with the session. It was a good session, a clean session,” Antonelli said.
“The car felt really good and it got better and better with every run.
“The last lap was disappointing because of the lock-up at Turn 11, but it was a good lap. I’m really happy with the session.”
In contrast, Russell was far from happy with how the session was going, telling his team on the radio after lapping 0.6 seconds slower than Antonelli in Q2:
“We can’t afford to slow down this much.”
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George Russell looks back on his qualifying performance in second place at the Japanese Grand Prix.
He had cut the gap by more than half by the end of Q3 and comfortably secured a front row spot, but admitted: “It was a really strange session for us. We were both very fast all weekend. We adjusted a bit after FP3, but at the beginning of qualifying we were nowhere to be found.”
“So we have to kind of understand. We’re very lucky to be in P2 again. I feel like we didn’t do well either way in qualifying the last two weeks, but the race is tomorrow and there’s still a lot to play for.”
Sky Sports F1 Japan GP Schedule
Sunday, March 29th
4:30am: Preparations for the Japanese Grand Prix – Grand Prix Sunday*
6am: Japanese Grand Prix*
8am: Japanese GP reaction – checkered flag*
9am: Ted’s Notes*
*The main event will also be broadcast live on Sky Sports
This weekend, F1 will host the Japanese Grand Prix at the iconic Suzuka Circuit, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
