Kimi Antonelli is still on fire: pole in Japan ahead of George Russell

The Italian, who is coming off his first victory in China, will start at the front in Suzuka and will look for his second success in a row. Oscar Piastri was the best of the rest.

Mercedes’ dominance does not cease, although the internal course seems to have changed. The enormous advantage gained by the Silver Arrows at the start of the new era of power units and chassis with active aerodynamics had its first chapter in Australia, with George Russell at the helm. The 28-year-old Englishman is at an ideal moment in his career to definitively fight for a title with the team he has been a part of since the lower divisions. Russell had to spend three seasons in the shadow of Lewis Hamilton, the star who won six titles with Brackley. With the departure of the Englishman to join Ferrari, Toto Wolff took the risk of putting young Kimi Antonelli in the F1 seat, a gem that the Austrian priest had been polishing since he was 12 years old. Everything indicated that Russell would be the undisputed number one driver in the team, but after winning in Australia and in the sprint in China, Antonelli made a big splash by taking pole position in Shanghai and his first success on Sunday. And in Japan, the third date, the 19-year-old from Bolognese once again took pole position, second in a row and was a candidate to win this Sunday.

Mercedes seemed to take Suzuka Friday in stride. They didn’t worry much about seeing Oscar Piastri ahead. When Saturday arrived, in the third test, the W17 accelerated and scored 1-2, with Kimi Antonelli ahead, with a considerable advantage of 254 thousandths. The Englishman was complaining on the radio about some problems with his car. When qualifying arrived, Russell’s claims continued, while Antonelli continued with his fast pace. After the overwhelming dominance of the third test (Charles Leclerc had been third by almost eight tenths), the only question left was which of the Mercedes would achieve 1st place in qualifying. And it was Kimi, with 298 thousandths of an advantage when he clocked 1m28s778. The Italian was the only one to go under 1m29s all weekend.

Antonelli had become the youngest driver to achieve a pole position and is now the youngest to achieve two consecutively. “I’m very happy with the session, it was good and clean. I felt very good in the car and each lap improved,” said Kimi, who if he wins will leave Japan as World Championship leader for the first time. Russell, of course, is not going to give up and will want to defend the top of the tournament: “We made some adjustments after the third practice, and then, at the beginning of qualifying, we were nowhere. So we need to understand it. I have been very lucky to be in second position again. The last two weekends things did not go well in qualifying. But the race is tomorrow and there is still a lot at stake,” he said. Wolff acknowledged that the car was touched and that the change that was made will be suffered in the race, because the rules do not allow modifying the set-up after qualifying. “We made an adjustment to the settings and he had too much oversteer and that made things very difficult for him. Now he has to deal with this in the race, which is a disadvantage, but these things happen.”

Oscar Piastri, the best of the rest

At McLaren they do not stop suffering from problems, but, at least, they had the pleasure of having the best of the rest in Japan. Oscar Piastri was third in qualifying, 354 thousandths behind Antonelli, and this Sunday he will try to start his first race of 2026 after not being able to participate in Australia and China. “Clearly we still don’t have the pace or the grip to beat Mercedes, but we’re getting closer,” said the Australian, who crashed alone in Melbourne on the open pit laps and struggled with the power unit before the previous lap in Shanghai.Yo. Those from Woking do not stop having headaches with reliability failures. Lando Norris, who was also unable to start in China, suffered again with the battery in Suzuka and finished fifth in the standings.

The champion was sandwiched between the two Ferraris, with Charles Leclerc in fourth place and Lewis Hamilton in sixth. The two Maranello drivers left grumbling, because they went from being the second force to having McLaren involved there. “Honestly, I can’t stand this classification. It’s a real joke. I go faster in the corners, I accelerate earlier and I lose everything on the straights,” bellowed the Monegasque. “We are simply not very fast compared to the Mercedes and a little bit to the McLaren,” said the seven-time champion.

With the potential shown by Mercedes, under normal conditions all that remains is to know which of the two will occupy the first place on the podium, nothing more.. The same thing happened in the previous qualifying, the only thing left to know was who would take pole position. The biggest prize for the rest is the third step on the podium, which until now has always belonged to Ferrari (Leclec, in Australia, and Hamilton, in China). From there, those trying to get closer to the three strongest teams, among them the lost Red Bull, which had Isack Hadjar as the best representative in eighth place, just behind Pierre Gasly, who once again showed his talent and put Alpine in seventh place.