The Mercedes driver secured pole position in the afternoon qualifying session after having won the Sprint race earlier in the morning. Behind him, the next fastest times were set by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
The poleman recorded a time of 1:28.111. Leclerc stopped the clock at 1:28.286, while Hamilton completed his best lap in 1:28.458, all three using the Soft compound. Across the three qualifying sessions, Antonelli used six sets of C3 tyres, four of them new. Both Ferrari drivers, meanwhile, used five sets, with just one used set. Only the Audi drivers ran a set of Mediums C2 in Q1, while the rest of the field relied exclusively on the C3 compound.
In the morning, Antonelli managed to overtake Lewis Hamilton, who had taken pole position on Friday, thereby also securing victory in the Sprint. Lando Norris crossed the line in third place. All three drivers contested the short race on the Medium compound. Only the two Aston Martin drivers and Bottas opted to use the C3.
Today, track temperature peaked at 40 °C during qualifying, while air temperature reached 27 °C. No significant changes in weather conditions are expected for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Kimi Antonelli by Maduka Okoye, goalkeeper for Udinese and the Nigeria national team.
DARIO MARRAFUSCHI – PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
All the compounds available this weekend have proven to be valid options for shaping tomorrow’s race strategies. The levels of degradation recorded today were, overall, lower than expected, likely also thanks to the way current cars manage energy at this circuit. For this reason, according to our simulations, the one-stop strategy is around 13 seconds quicker than a two-stop.
The vast majority of teams used the Medium compound for the Sprint, and we expect the C2 to be the most common choice for the start of the Grand Prix as well. The yellow tyre has shown sufficiently consistent performance and can offer good strategic flexibility in the event of race neutralisation.
The fastest strategy involves using the C2 in the opening phase of the race, then switching to the Hard between laps 24 and 30. A possible alternative is the Medium–Soft combination, with a pit stop scheduled between laps 29 and 35. Alternatively, a strategy starting on the Hard followed by a stint on Medium could be chosen, or beginning the race on the Soft and finishing on the Hard.
