F1: Antonelli on pole in Japan, Ferrari fourth and sixth. Hamilton admits: "With the Goods…

Kimi Antonelli he conquered the pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix, third race of the season Formula 1. The very young Mercedes driver placed ahead of teammate George Russell in official practice.

The Ferraris

Third was the Australian Oscar Piastri on McLaren. Fourth the Ferrari Charles Leclerc, while teammate Lewis Hamilton will start from sixth position.

Hamilton admits: “Huge gap with Mercedes”

“You can’t put all the blame on the engine. Power delivery is certainly decisive for a large part of the time, but our performances are also inferior at car level. We have to make up a huge gap to be able to compete,” said Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton to Sky Sports after the sixth qualifying time in the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, analyzing the gap to Mercedes.

Antonelli: “More beautiful pole than in China”

“This pole was better than the one in China. I felt good in the car, even if in Q1 the first run wasn’t great, because the wind had changed so much and the car was more difficult to drive. I tried to adapt as much as possible and in the end I managed to have a good pace.” Thus the Mercedes driver, Kimi Antonelli, speaking to Sky Sport. “I think what counts is the fact that I started well in free practice 1 and improved in all the sessions without making any mistakes – he added -. When you manage to do three clean sessions and make improvements each time it helps a lot, this also helped a lot in China. Obviously there is still room to improve, but we are on the right path. There will certainly be a different awareness at the start compared to China. I will be more calm. I will try to make a clean start without overdoing it, let’s hope to be first in turn 1 and then have a good pace”, concluded Antonelli.