2026 Chinese Grand Prix - Saturday

A milestone moment in Shanghai

• Kimi Antonelli becomes the youngest driver to take a Grand Prix pole position, a milestone moment for the 19-year-old, with George Russell locking out the front-row for the team in P2.
• The day’s action began with the first Sprint of the year, George and Kimi lining up on the front-row for that 19-lap event too.
• Both George and Kimi started on the Medium compound tyre and lost positions on the opening lap; George dropping to P2 and Kimi to P7.
• Good tyre management and race pace allowed George to regain P1 and subsequently keep the Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc at bay.
• Kimi meanwhile pressured both McLarens and Ferraris to take P3 on track but was awarded a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision with the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar on the opening lap.
• A Safety Car intervention saw most drivers pit for the Soft compound and enabled Kimi to serve his penalty.
• George rejoined P1 with Kimi P7, before he made up two positions in the closing three laps to finish P5.
• Later in the day, both drivers progressed safely to the top 10 shootout in Qualifying but the final 13 minutes was not a smooth affair.
• George ground to a halt on his out-lap and, having restarted and made it back to the garage, only had one chance to set a lap-time. He kept his cool to put his car P2.
• Kimi meanwhile topped the times on both his first and second efforts, securing P1 and becoming the youngest Grand Prix polesitter in the sport’s history.
• He also becomes the first Italian to take pole position since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.
• F1 Academy driver Payton Westcott finished the first F1 Academy race P6, a promising start to her first full season in the all-female series.

Kimi Antonelli

I am very happy with what we achieved today. To take my first Grand prix pole position, along with the milestone of becoming the youngest polesitter in the sport's history, is incredible. The team did an amazing job throughout, and I want to thank everyone for their efforts.

This morning’s Sprint race didn’t quite go how we wanted it to. I didn’t make a clean start and then had contact later on the opening lap. Our pace was solid though and we were able to fight back to score some points. Thankfully, Qualifying was smoother. I was improving run after run and was able to put together two clean laps in Q3 to take pole position.

I am looking forward to tomorrow’s Grand Prix; the Ferraris had good pace in the Sprint and George has also been incredibly quick. It promises to be an interesting afternoon ahead.

George Russell

Firstly, I want to congratulate Kimi for the great job he did today. Taking a pole position in F1 is incredibly hard and for him to be the youngest to ever do so is a testament to the driver he is.

On my side, Qualifying was quite chaotic. I had a front wing issue at the end of Q2, but we managed to change it for a new one just before the start of Q3. Something still felt wrong when I went out for my out lap and I had to go back to the garage for a full check. Luckily, the team managed to get me back on track with only one push lap to make the best out of it.

Given that, P2 is still a good result, and we could not to better than securing the front row for the team. The focus for tomorrow is to get a clean getaway. In Melbourne and in the Sprint earlier today, we saw how strong the Ferraris were. We expect them to put us under pressure so we will need to be at our best. We know we’ve got the race pace to fight for the victory, but it will all come down to execution on Sunday.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

Kimi’s pole position is not only a huge achievement for him but a milestone moment. Becoming the youngest polesitter in the sport’s history is quite something. It is sometimes easy to forget that he is only just out of his rookie season and yet is achieving so much. He has proved beyond doubt that those who thought he was too young or didn’t believe in his abilities when we promoted him to a race seat, were wrong. I am proud that we had the confidence to make the decision we did.

For George, it is a shame we had a battery issue and that he could not make the most out of the car. Nevertheless, he did a stellar job in difficult circumstances to make sure we completed the front-row. He was supreme in the Sprint, and he’s got strong race pace so he will be a factor in the fight for victory tomorrow. With that said, the Ferraris have looked quick all weekend. We cannot afford to make any mistakes or they will surely pounce. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and the battle ahead.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Whilst we ended the day with a Sprint win and a front-row lock-out in Qualifying, it was anything but a straightforward Saturday.

Whilst George got away well in the Sprint, Kimi was low on battery having been in a sub optimal strat mode on the formation lap. He then had contact later on the opening lap and picked up a penalty. Having served that, he drove well to get his car back to P5. George meanwhile fought with the Ferraris early on but was able to demonstrate his pace to come out on top.

In Qualifying, we were hoping for a smoother time of it and we were getting that up until Q3. George came to a stop on track and, whilst he was able to get back going, the fire-up drained the battery and also suffered an issue with the gears. Under a lot of pressure, he did well to secure P2 after those issues. It was less chaotic for Kimi who produced two good laps to take his maiden Grand Prix pole position, a well-deserved milestone as he becomes the younger polesitter in F1 history.

It was a good job from both the team and the drivers to keep cool heads today and prevail. We will need that again tomorrow. We have seen how quick the Ferraris are and will need to be at our best if we are to be in the mix for victory tomorrow.

Payton Westcott, F1 Academy Driver

Overall, that was a solid first race of the season for me. I made a good start and was able to move up early, which gave me a chance to run near the front and learn a lot about the car and race management. There were a couple of mistakes from my side that cost us some positions, but it’s all valuable experience at this stage.

The pace was encouraging, and the team did a great job supporting me. I’ll take everything we learned today and come back tomorrow focused on putting together another good race and look to score solid points.