Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli storms to second consecutive pole in Japan

Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli looked every bit the seasoned veteran as he eased to a second successive pole position in Saturday’s qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The 19-year-old Mercedes driver, two weeks on from having scored his first pole and win, lit up the timing loops around the iconic 5.8 kilometer-long Suzuka racetrack with a one minute 28.778-second lap.

Set on his first attempt, it was enough to beat teammate George Russell by a handy 0.298 seconds, with the Briton making it three out of three front-row lockouts for the team.

Australian Oscar Piastri, 0.354 seconds off the pace, took third for McLaren.

“I felt very good in the car and every run I was just improving and improving,” said a composed Antonelli after taking his second career pole and 50th for an Italian driver.

“I’m really happy with the session and now we’ll focus on tomorrow,” he added, a minor lock-up that prevented him from improving even further on his final run offering the only indication of his relative inexperience.

READY TO TAKE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

Antonelli heads into Sunday’s race fired up from his success in China and knowing a repeat performance in Japan would see him take the championship lead from Russell, who is four points ahead.

The Briton, winner of the opening race in Australia and the Saturday sprint in China, complained of a lack of rear grip throughout the session and never looked in a position to challenge his younger teammate.

“Over the last two weekends it’s both gone wrong come qualifying,” said Russell.

“But the race is tomorrow and still a lot to play for,” added the Briton, who was hamstrung by technical gremlins during qualifying in China.

Piastri was encouraged by McLaren’s improved fortunes after neither of the Woking-based team’s cars were able to start the last race in China.

“I think this weekend we’ve looked good, and I think we’ve executed well,” said the 24-year-old, who has only raced in the China sprint after also failing to make the start of the season-opening race in Melbourne.

Ferrari, a clear second to Mercedes over the first two rounds, appeared to have lost ground.

Charles Leclerc was fourth quickest, 0.627 seconds off the pace, and will line up on the second row alongside Piastri.

McLaren’s reigning champion Lando Norris will start fifth with seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton alongside him on the third row in sixth.

Norris lost a significant amount of track time in the practice sessions due to issues with his car.

Four-times world champion Max Verstappen delivered the major upset of the session.

The Red Bull racer, who has started from pole at Suzuka for the last four years in a row, failed to make it through to the top-10 shootout after being knocked out by Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad.

He will start 11th, behind the 18-year-old, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar in eighth.

Aston Martin propped up the timesheets at what is a home event for power unit partners Honda with Fernando Alonso set to start 21st and Lance Stroll last.

Mercedes have started the season and Formula One's new rules era in dominant style. They are on course to chalk up their first season-opening hat-trick of one-two finishes since 2019.

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle, additional reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Peter Rutherford and Ed Osmond)