Front-Row Lockout to Kick Off the Season in Melbourne

• George Russell took pole position with Kimi Antonelli second as the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team locked out the front-row at the season-opening Melbourne Grand Prix.

• It was not a straightforward run to that though with Kimi suffering a heavy accident near the end of FP3. Fortunately, the Power Unit and chassis did not need changing, and the team were able to get the Italian out on track in the closing moments of Q1.

• Both drivers successfully navigated their way through to Q3 with Kimi setting provisional pole on his final effort before George posted the fastest time to take the eighth pole of his F1 career and first here in Australia.

• That marks the 250^th pole position for Mercedes-Benz power in F1, going all the way back to Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1954 French Grand Prix, and the 85^th front-row lock-out for Mercedes.

George Russell

Everything came together well today, and the team did an amazing job. They got the car into a good place, and we know that we’ve historically been quick in cooler conditions. Everything fell our way and we were able to convert that into pole. Equally, we know that the advantage we had today is not the true gap to our competitors. The team at Brackley and Brixworth have provided us with a really strong platform to build on but, if we want to win this championship, we will need to improve the car in several areas. This is only the first Qualifying session of the first race, and everyone is still on zero points.

We will do our best to convert P1 and P2 into a strong result tomorrow. It will be a long afternoon, and we will see what challenges get thrown our way. We had good long run pace on Friday, but we need to execute well if we want to fight for victory. Let’s see what we can do.

Kimi Antonelli

I clearly like to make my life difficult! We were on the back foot after my crash in FP3 but today, the heroes are the mechanics and everyone in the garage. I cannot thank them enough for repairing my car in time for Qualifying. We were so tight on time that we weren’t even able to set the car up properly, but they still gave me a rapid machine that enabled us to lock out the front-row.

We now have the chance to fight for a good result tomorrow. There are no points scored on Saturday, and it will be a long Grand Prix with these new cars. It is only the first race of the year and there are still lots of unknowns and things that can trip us up. We will need to do a good job tomorrow to turn this positive into a good points haul. I’m excited for the challenge and to get the season underway properly.

Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal

I don’t know where to start with the congratulations today as there are many that I need to make! The team has done a brilliant job to turn around Kimi’s car after his FP3 accident and to get it ready for Qualifying. It did not seem realistic to me when the car got back to us, but they put in an incredible effort. The team across Brackley and Brixworth have also done such a strong job to get the W17 to Melbourne in such a strong position and for the race team here in Australia to help put it P1 and P2 today. Both drivers also did brilliantly; George was on a different level out there and put in a fantastic performance whilst Kimi also recovered well and kept a cool head to deliver the front-row lockout.

Whilst we are very happy with today’s performance, it is only Qualifying and the first race of the season. The points are scored tomorrow so we need to show that we can be just as strong in the Grand Prix. We also know that our competitors will have much more to show than they did today and this will be no indication of how the rest of the season is likely to play out.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Well done to the team for managing to get Kimi's car back together and out before the end of Q1. It took so many people to make it happen and it was great that the hard work paid off with a front-row lock-out.

George also did a brilliant job to start the year with a pole position. He had the session under control from start to finish and made it look easy, but that's all down the fact he worked hard and left no stone unturned in his preparations. Kimi had a less smooth day; the crash in FP3 will have set him back but he will learn from that. He did a fine job under enormous pressure though to make it through the sessions and end up on the front row. Finally, well done to the team in Brackley and Brixworth; it's impressive to see how hard everyone has worked preparing for these regulations, but they can all be immensely satisfied to be starting the first race of a new era with both cars at the head of the field.

FP3 Result

Qualifying Result