Antonelli still learning ‘risk-reward’ as Wolff claps back at age critics

Andrea Kimi Antonelli admits he is still learning the “risk-reward” trade-off after securing a record-breaking Formula 1 pole at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The 19-year-old Italian became the youngest driver to claim a pole position in F1 history by beating Mercedes team-mate George Russell in qualifying in Shanghai.

Antonelli took advantage of problems that hit Russell’s car and left the championship leader with only a single Q3 lap to take a historic pole by 0.222 seconds.

The feat saw Antonelli break Sebastian Vettel’s 18-year-old record for becoming F1’s youngest pole-sitter for a grand prix.

“I saw he [Russell] had the issue, but I just tried to keep my focus, to stay calm and try to deliver a good lap, which it was, at the end,” Antonelli said after qualifying.

“I’m very happy because at the end, you know, it’s just the beginning, so obviously there’s a lot more to come.

“Really looking forward to tomorrow. The car is feeling really good, the car is strong, so a lot to play for tomorrow. But just super happy with today.”

Antonelli acknowledged he still has much to improve when it comes to extracting the best from himself and his car in qualifying.

“It’s not easy because definitely Melbourne was a shame, to have that hard hit, and then it put me a bit on a back foot into qualifying and then the race,” he explained.

"But it’s hard because you have such a great opportunity, having such a quick car, and you don’t want to miss the opportunity, so you go for it.

“In my case, I’m still learning how to improve the risk-reward ratio, especially in sessions that the result doesn’t really count, such as FP3 for example. So it’s about finding the right balance in order to then be able to keep the momentum going.

“Also, it’s about, in every situation, being able to put things together, even in a qualifying session, having a clean run from Q1 all the way to Q3.

“I’m still trying to find my way to see how I can achieve that because  at the moment I feel like maybe I do a good Q1 and Q2, then maybe Q3 is not good enough. I just need to find some improvements in there.”

Wolff hits back at Kimi age critics

Antonelli made headlines when he made his F1 debut with Mercedes in 2025, aged just 18, having been chosen to replace seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who made a blockbuster switch to Ferrari. 

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said Antonelli’s performance justified the Silver Arrows’ decision to fast-track him into F1 as he clapped back at critics.

"Many said the kid was too young, the kid was too young to be in a Mercedes, we should have prepared him otherwise. And the kid did good today,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.

"I am so happy for Kimi to be on pole but if the kit lets the driver down like on George's side... you want to see them head to head and see what they can do. So it's a shame George couldn't do the lap.”

On Russell’s issues, Wolff added: "It looks like it's electrical. We had to power cycle the car three times - it's basically like an iPhone, switch it on, switch it off - and then the third time it went.

“I didn't think it was going out but then, to my surprise, we still did the lap."