Triumphal Saturday
Andrea Kimi Antonelli becomes the youngest poleman ever in the history of F1 And George Russell completes the front row despite a technical problem which seemed to preclude him from participating in Q3. Shanghai was therefore another glorious Saturday for Toto Wolffwho can rejoice: ‘his’ Mercedes confirms itself as the absolute master of this new era of Formula 1, even when things aren’t going in the best way. Interviewed by Sky Sports F1 at the end of Q3 the silver arrows team principal applauded both his drivers and yes removed a few pebbles from his shoes towards 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.
Challenge between the silver arrows
“The boy did well…Many said that the boy was too young to be at Mercedes, that we should have prepared him in another way, but today he showed his worth – Wolff ruled – Could Russell have beaten him with two tries? We will never know. I’m very happy with Kimi’s pole, but it’s clear that we would have liked to see him go head to head with Georgewhich is why it’s a shame that George didn’t get to take his first ride“.
Regarding the reasons for the sudden stop of the #12 Mercedes at the start of qualifying, Wolff indicated a probable cause power unit problem: “We don’t know for sure yet. It appears to have been an electrical problem with the power unit. Three times the engine started and then stopped and then the third time it worked. I didn’t even think he would make it to the track, but I was surprised and he did his lap anyway. Tomorrow’s race? We’ll see how they go: we know that the Ferraris will push like crazy tomorrow, as they did today in the Sprint and also in Melbourne. It will definitely be fun from the start“.
