Australian Grand Prix: Mercedes’ Russell, Antonelli top in qualifying, Verstappen crashes
Briton Russell lives up to pre-race ‘favourite’ tag while Dutch four-time world champion crashes out in first qualifying session
George Russell took pole position and teammate Kimi Antonelli locked up the front row as Mercedes confirmed their off-season promise by dominating qualifying at Formula One’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Briton Russell lapped Albert Park’s street circuit in one minute, 18.518 seconds, a mark that was 0.293 seconds ahead of Italian Antonelli, who came back from a huge crash in the final free practice earlier in the day.
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was third quickest but nearly eight-tenths of a second slower than Russell’s pole position, the Silver Arrows’ first since Lewis Hamilton in 2019.
“It was a great day; we knew there was a lot of potential in the car,” Russell said. “It really came alive this afternoon.
“Also really happy that Kimi’s here … All in all, a pretty good day.”
Antonelli faces a nervous wait for his position to be confirmed, however, after his patched-up car dropped cooling-fan parts at the start of Q3 and McLaren’s defending champion Norris ran over one, sending debris flying and triggering a red flag.