Antonelli credits "very tidy" lap for pole position at Silverstone

Antonelli celebrating pole position after taking his first sprint win | Credit: Formula One

With a lap time of 1:28.111, Kimi Antonelli has taken his fifth career pole position and fifth of 2026 as well. As a result of this, Mercedes have kept their record of qualifying ahead the rest of the field for the entirety of the season so far and it also places Antonelli ahead of teammate George Russell in the teammate head-to-head.

Speaking after the session, the 19-year-old admitted that he "was a bit stressed" especially after noting that he was the first car on-track for the final round of timed laps during Q3. However, after the 10 fastest cars crossed the line and Antonelli's pole position was confirmed, he acknowledged that his "last lap was very tidy". Even with the concerns over track position, it is clear that the young Italian driver was able to put everything together at just the right time to deny other favourites to start ahead of the rest

After his sprint race win earlier on Saturday, Antonelli stated that he and the team "built our way through qualifying" instead of making any dramatic changes to the car's set-up. Collectively, Mercedes alongside the current championship leader "managed to find a good setting" which saw limited issues or notable moments during qualifying. Speaking about his team, Antonelli gave them immense credit by referencing his performances being a result of a "good dynamic in the team".

However, even with a gap of 0.175s between himself and Charles Leclerc's Ferrari in second, Antonelli is still wary of the Ferrari pair behind with the Monegasque driver on the front-row and Lewis Hamilton starting in third. Being realistic, the Mercedes driver said that "it's not going to be easy" to keep ahead of the two Ferraris.

There can be no doubt that the Ferrari race starts have been a secret weapon in their arsenal and their race pace has been improving however, even with "their pace" being "good", Antonelli acknowledged that "ours [Mercedes'] is also strong". With 25 points on the table, there's only the matter of seeing who will be lifting the trophy once the chequered flag has been waved on Sunday.