Antonelli soaks up ‘incredible feeling’ after securing pole position in Japan

Kimi Antonelli has raved about the “incredible feeling” he experienced upon claiming pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix, building on his formidable start to the 2026 season.

Just two weeks after becoming the sport’s youngest-ever polesitter, the 19-year-old repeated the feat at the Suzuka Circuit by beating his Mercedes team mate George Russell by nearly three tenths in Q3.

The Briton was far from his best as he struggled with balance problems, but Antonelli seemed to evade any such issues and ended the session with an unassailable time of 1m 28.778s, helping the Silver Arrows to lock out the front row for the third successive round.

“It was a good session, I’m happy with it,” he said after Qualifying. “I think I was able to improve lap by lap. That first Q3 lap was good. Second lap was looking strong but then at Turn 11 I locked up and lost quite a bit of time so it was a shame.

“I was a bit annoyed with that but [I got] pole position. I felt good in the car, felt good with the track, and now focusing on tomorrow.”

Reflecting on the support he has enjoyed over the weekend, he explained in an earlier interview: “The fans here in Japan are pretty incredible. There's so much passion and racing at a historic track is an incredible feeling.

“The track is unbelievable to drive with this kind of car plus the fans give us a little bit more of a boost when we go on track.”

Antonelli will now be hoping to avoid small errors that have occasionally impacted his performance at times – such as his crash in FP3 at the season opener in Australia as well as a poor start and time penalty in the China Sprint – and target his second Grand Prix victory.

With eight of the last 12 events in Japan having been won from pole position, there is a strong chance that a clean race could see him could leapfrog Russell and take an early lead in the Drivers' Championship Standings.

Reflecting on how he has hit the ground running this season, with a P2 and win already under his belt, he said: “For sure I was able to build momentum already from the Melbourne race, and then China was continuing to build momentum.

“It’s just trying to keep this momentum and keep on trying to improve and squeeze a bit of performance every time without overdoing it. I think overall I’m getting a good feeling with the car.

"Of course there’s still work to do, especially on maximising the PU but it was good. I’m really happy with that."