A record pole
Glory Saturday for Italian motorsports in Shanghai: the pole position for the Chinese GP which will start tomorrow was in fact grabbed by Andrea Kimi Antonelliwho with this result becomes the youngest poleman ever in the history of Formula 1. The Mercedes driver from Bologna has in fact crumbled the previous record that had stood since the 2008 Monza weekend and which belonged to Sebastian Vettel.
The German with Toro Rosso achieved pole at 21 years, two months and 11 days; Antonelli succeeded at 19 years, six months and 18 days. The Italian beat teammate George Russell by 222 thousandths, who was penalized by some technical problems in the first phase of Q3 which prevented him from making his first attempt. Behind the two Mercedes, the two Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc qualified.
Italy is back in front
Antonelli also put Italy back on pole position in Formula 1 for the first time since the 2009 Belgian GP, when Giancarlo Fisichella took pole position at Spa with Force India. A historic result that the young Bolognese will try to replicate tomorrow in the race: a victory in the Circus has been missing for our country for exactly 20 years. The last one was also won by Fisichella in 2006 – exactly on 19 March – in Malaysia at the wheel of Renault.
