Triumphant Saturday
Andrea Kimi Antonelli becomes the youngest ever pole-sitter in F1 history and George Russell completes the front row despite a technical problem that seemed likely to prevent him from participating in Q3. Shanghai was therefore another day of glory for Toto Wolff, who can celebrate: ‘his’ Mercedes confirms itself as the absolute master of this new era of Formula 1, even when things don’t go the best way. Interviewed by Sky Sports F1 at the end of Q3, the Silver Arrows team principal applauded both of his drivers and also got a few things off his chest regarding those who – a year ago – had criticized him for the choice to promote the very young Antonelli to the seat that had belonged to ‘his majesty’ Lewis Hamilton.
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Challenge between the Silver Arrows
“The boy did well…Many said the kid was too young to be at Mercedes, that we should have prepared him in another way, but today he showed what he’s worth – Wolff stated – Could Russell have beaten him with two attempts? We will never know. I am very happy for Kimi’s pole, but it’s clear that we would have liked to see a head-to-head with George, which is why it’s a shame George couldn’t complete his first lap“.
Read more Leclerc and the fight with Hamilton: “Does Lewis know how wide these cars are?”
Regarding the reasons for the sudden stop of the #12 Mercedes at the start of qualifying, Wolff indicated a power unit problem as the likely cause: “We don’t know for sure yet. It seems it was an electrical problem with the power unit. Three times the engine turned on and then off, and then on the third time it worked. I didn’t even think he would manage to get on track, but I was surprised and he did his lap anyway. Tomorrow’s race? We’ll see how they start: we know the Ferraris will push like crazy tomorrow, as they did today in the Sprint and also in Melbourne. It will certainly be fun at the start“.
Read more Russell: “Hamilton caught me by surprise, Ferrari is very close to us on race pace”
