By Abhishek Takle
SUZUKA, Japan, March 28 (Reuters) – Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli cashed in on his “banker lap” on Saturday to take pole position in qualifying for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old set the fastest time of one minute 28.778 seconds on his first attempt in the final shootout phase of qualifying.
A lock-up on his second attempt prevented him going even faster, but it did not matter with his initial effort good enough to beat second-placed Mercedes teammate George Russell by a handy 0.298 seconds.
“Putting that one lap in that was very good,” Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff told Sky Sports.
“Bono (Antonelli’s engineer Peter Bonnington) told him to put a banker in – and then he pushed it a little bit hard on the last one and it wasn’t so good, but it’s really pleasing to see,” he added.
Drivers typically put in two fast laps when battling for pole.
The first is usually treated as a “banker” attempt, aimed at getting a lap time on the board during which drivers tend to play it slightly safe before putting it all on the line in a high-risk last-gasp blast for top spot.
For Antonelli, playing it safe paid off. It was the 50th pole for an Italian driver.
He heads into the weekend fired up from having secued his first pole and victory two weeks ago in China as he bids for a first win at Suzuka, an old-school layout renowned as one of the great drivers’ tracks.
“When you hear his radio communications, also on the intercom in the garage, it’s just calm,” Wolff added.
“Not putting himself too much under pressure.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
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