Formula 1 leader Kimi Antonelli will face the toughest test of his breakout season at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after he managed only the third best time in qualifying on Saturday.
The young Italian will now have to find a way past pole-sitter George Russell, his Mercedes teammate, as well as a resurgent Lewis Hamilton, to make it six wins in a row.
Antonelli’s spectacular winning streak includes four victories from pole and one from a second-place start.
But a not-so-perfect qualifying session on Saturday means the 19-year-old Antonelli is off the front row for the first time this year.
“I am not really happy, I’m struggling with the feeling of the car,” Antonelli said as he faces the first dip in performance since becoming the sensation of F1.
The good news for Antonelli is that he can afford to not take the full 25 points for a race victory. He has already tallied 156 points after just six races. Hamilton is next with 90, while Russell has 88.
Russell, however, looked like a man who banished some demons with his pole position.
The English driver entered the season as Mercedes’ presumptive top driver. And with the German outfit producing the best car, Russell looked poised for a title run when he won the season-opening Australian GP.
Then came the explosion of Antonelli, which, combined with some team errors, left Russell floundering as he failed to score any points in his last two races.
“Nice to feel the groove again,” Russell told his team radio on locking up the first spot. He will need to turn that into a race victory to show his title chances are still realistic.
“More important than the pole position is that I felt confident and felt like myself again,” Russell said, adding he tried to stop obsessing about analytics and “got back to basics.”
“It’s been a great weekend. I feel like my old self again. I came into this weekend with a clean slate. it felt good and it is just great to be on pole.”
It was Russell’s 10th career pole in his 100th grand prix weekend for Mercedes.
The Mercedes pair has taken all seven poles this season as Toto Wolff’s team has emerged as the biggest benefactor of a rulebook overhaul.
After struggling last year with Ferrari, Hamilton is on the rebound and entered this race after back-to-back runner-up finishes.
Now, the seven-time world champion believes he may be close to ending a nearly two-year wait to add to his record haul of 104 grand prix wins.
“I will give it a go,” Hamilton said about Sunday’s race at a track where he has won six times, but not since 2021 while with Mercedes.
“These guys (Russell and Antonelli) still seem to have something extra in the pocket every time we bring an upgrade, but this is great for us. It is the closest we have been pace-wise in qualifying.”
Defending F1 champion Lando Norris will start next to Antonelli in fourth. Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were next, followed by Norris’ McLaren partner, Oscar Piastri, who won here last year.
Charles Leclerc was slotted into 10th after he skidded off the track at a turn and slammed the nose of his Ferrari into the barrier, causing a red flag to unfurl. A crane lifted the mangled bright red car, one front wheel dangling, and hauled it behind the barriers.
Leclerc also crashed in last weekend’s race in Monaco, on the heels of him signing a contract extension with the Italian outfit.
“No excuses. I just feel ashamed,” Leclerc said after his latest mistake.
It was likewise an extremely disappointing session for Fernando Alonso, who had the slowest time in his Aston Martin. He will start from last place in what the 44-year-old former champion said will likely be his last race in Barcelona.
The two Cadillacs, driven by Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, failed to advance from the first qualifying session that culled the slowest six cars.
This race outside Barcelona was called the Spanish Grand Prix from 1991 until last year. The Spanish GP title has passed to the new race to be held in Madrid in September.
The Barcelona-Catalunya GP will be held only every other year, taking a hiatus in 2027 and back again in 2028. The race’s future was in doubt until a deal was announced this year that it will alternate with the Belgian GP on the calendar.
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