Mercedes
Mercedes looked quick in practice, and certainly went into Sprint Qualifying with the belief they could mix it at the front. But most expected Russell to be the one to push McLaren. Instead, it was his 18-year-old team mate who didn’t just push McLaren but beat both papaya cars on merit. Antonelli sealed his first ever P1 grid slot in style, at a track he has never driven before, in an incredible history-making effort, while Russell had to settle for fifth after opting to set his lap time earlier than the rest in SQ3 before the track had fully evolved.
Kimi Antonelli, 1st, 1:26.482
“I did not expect that! It feels fantastic to take my first pole position. When I crossed the line, I thought it was a good lap. I was happy with how it came together. There were a few areas that I felt I could have found a little bit more time, but I was pleased that I managed to hook up all three sectors. I will enjoy this moment but quickly focus on tomorrow as it would be good to repeat today by taking victory in the Sprint itself.
“We know the McLarens, the Ferraris, and the Red Bull of Verstappen have strong race pace. It won’t be easy to keep them behind tomorrow, but I will be giving it my all to do so. It will be important to have a good start and hopefully from there, set a good pace without suffering too much from tyre degradation. After the Sprint, we will have to try and do the job we have done today to secure a good grid position for the Grand Prix on Sunday.”
George Russell, 5th, 1:26.791
“Firstly, massive congratulations to Kimi! I’m really pleased to see him take his first pole position. He’s been really quick right from the first lap in FP1 and that is really impressive. It is great for him and the whole team; hopefully he can convert that into a strong result in tomorrow’s Sprint.
“I’ve not felt at my most comfortable with the car today. I’ve been struggling a little and have just been a touch off the pace. I chose to go on the early side in SQ3 because I ultimately didn’t quite have the confidence to go in the pack at the end. I didn’t want to get caught by a yellow flag either, so we opted to play it safer. P5 is obviously not great, and we need to improve on that in tomorrow’s Qualifying. These Sprint weekends can be tricky, but we will do what we can to enjoy a better day than we have today.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“Congratulations to Kimi on his first Sprint pole position in F1. It was a great lap in a tight session and will be a moment he will never forget. Whilst it is good that we will start tomorrow’s Sprint from P1, the most important thing is the progress we are seeing from Kimi. He continues to learn and get better every weekend. He has now topped a session, even if it came in Sprint Qualifying. It is another important milestone in his development, and we will continue to support him to maintain this trajectory.
“On the other side of the garage, George was slightly unlucky. He hasn’t felt as comfortable in the car as Kimi today and that showed throughout FP1 and Sprint Qualifying. We decided to go on the early side in SQ3 to make sure he got a clean lap. That was the right decision but probably cost us a little bit of track evolution. He put together a decent effort but was just on the wrong side of the pack at the front. He will be determined to fight back from P5 tomorrow, before we focus on the most important session of the weekend so far in Qualifying.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“It’s great to see Kimi take a well deserved Sprint pole! He has looked strong from the first lap of FP1 but clearly saved the best until last. To become the youngest driver to take a pole position in any format in F1 is a special moment and one he deserves to savour right now. Our attention will swiftly turn to tomorrow though with the Sprint and then Qualifying for the Grand Prix later in the afternoon.
“George started Sprint Qualifying well but as it progressed, he was struggling to get the tyres to bite and is understandably disappointed with P5. We probably went too early on the final run with him but that was to get a bit of flexibility if the lap didn’t go to plan. We will review that ahead of Qualifying tomorrow.
“We spent a long time focusing on long run work this morning, so didn’t get a look at the Soft tyre until SQ3. That long run programme was aimed at understanding why our long run pace was not as competitive as we hoped for in Jeddah. We know that we have work to do to improve the car in that area, and we don’t expect a quick fix, but it will be interesting to see how we get on tomorrow. The Sprint always provides some useful learning and we’ll be doing whatever we can to get a strong result with both cars.”
