Despite very low confidence, Antonelli rises to third line

Tackling a circuit of Suzuka's caliber at just 18 years old is no easy feat. Yet that's exactly what the Italian driver had to do this Saturday during qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. In his third Grand Prix in the premier class of motorsport, Antonelli conceded two tenths to his teammate George Russell in Q3. He will, however, line up alongside him on the third row, after narrowly edging out Isack Hadjar's Racing Bulls to claim the top rookie spot on the grid.

After starting the weekend quite well, Andrea Kimi Antonelli admitted to having lost his way a little, with very little confidence in his car and his driving. All on a real roller coaster, with fast turns and walls that are ultimately not so far away, as Jack Doohan discovered to his cost in FP2. Probably not imagining making it to Q3, the #12 still got the job done this Saturday morning.

"I'm quite happy with my session, especially considering how free practice went.", he explained on the official F1 website. “I’m not going to lie, I was pretty lost and had very little confidence. It wasn’t an easy qualifying session, but I’m happy to see how much I was able to improve and achieve the best possible result. Free Practice 1 went quite well, but I took a step back in FP2 and FP3. I couldn’t reach the confidence level I needed, so I was pretty uneasy going into qualifying. So I was happy to get into Q3 and set a good time at the end of the session, but I still have a lot of work to do.”

Let's hope the young Italian's confidence returns this Sunday, with the risk of rain. If that worked for him in Melbourne, where he finished fourth, Antonelli could discover that Suzuka in these conditions is an even more formidable challenge.

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