Toto Wolff does not understand it, and honestly, neither might you. Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff was left completely bemused after watching Kimi Antonelli pull off what he called a "miracle lap" to snatch pole position in Qualifying at the United States Grand Prix.
While Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc set the pace early by topping the times in Q1 and Q2 respectively, Antonelli delivered when it mattered most in the final segment. The Italian put together a lap of 1m 34.035s to claim provisional pole. He made a small error on his second effort and failed to complete it, but it made no difference. Red Bull's Max Verstappen also failed to improve, locking in P1 for the 20-year-old for the seventh time this season.
The scale of the drive becomes even wilder when looking at the other side of the garage. George Russell settled for P6 in the second Mercedes, finishing over four-tenths adrift of his team mate. That gap left Wolff even more astounded by what the young Italian had managed to squeeze out of the machine.
"To be honest, George’s lap is what we expected the car could do," Wolff told F1 TV. "Not quite happy about the set-up and the upgrade we brought. Kimi pulled out such a miracle lap that I struggle to understand where that’s coming from."
This triumph marks Antonelli’s first pole since the Belgian Grand Prix. It is also the team’s first Qualifying success since they introduced a major upgrade package in Malaysia, a component they have fought hard to maximise over recent rounds. While it failed to deliver the desired boost initially, the package finally seemed to work in the Silver Arrows’ favour at the Circuit of The Americas, where the young driver could secure the Drivers’ Championship.
Wolff admitted his pre-session expectations were far more modest. "We brought an upgrade package two races ago which didn’t perform as we expected. We had a guest that asked me what I expected from Qualifying and I said something between P3 and P5. Now we have a car on pole position and it looked very strong, so the car has it in it to be fast – we just need to understand why."
Despite the glory of pole, challenges remain for the race. Wolff noted that the car is probably not as strong in race performance as the Ferraris and Verstappen. The team will watch how Antonelli gets away and whether he can hold onto P1, while George Russell needs to be brought forward to score vital points for the Constructors’ Championship.
