George Russell had begun the Monaco Grand Prix weekend trying his level best to get into the head of Kimi Antonelli by telling him it was his title to lose.
To date, the teenager has edged the on-track battles. In the toughest of tests on the entire Formula 1 calendar, the 19-year-old also showed he is winning the mental battle by yet again outmaneuvering the more experienced Mercedes driver.
Russell struggled throughout qualifying to finish a lowly sixth and four tenths of a second behind Antonelli, who was the last man across the line to clinch pole from Max Verstappen by four hundredths of a second.
The Italian afterwards called it a magic lap, his wide grin backing up his assessment that he is simply enjoying this season rather than fretting about the title race.
It was here a year ago that Antonelli was the last of the official finishers highlighting the pace of his ascent in the ensuing 12 months.
Qualifying had looked wide open with Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes showing good pace at points. It was Charles Leclerc who was fastest in Q1, eclipsed by Verstappen in Q2 before Antonelli timed comfortably his best lap of the weekend at just the right time.
For a moment, it looked as if Leclerc might take his fourth pole in six attempts at what is home race and the roars rang out the surrounds of the principality among his supporters as he was briefly the quickest.
But his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who will start the race a place ahead of his teammate in P3, Verstappen and then Antonelli all eclipsed him. Pushing desperately to wrestle back pole, Leclerc hit the wall on a final flying lap, unable to snatch P1 for team boss Fred Vasseur, who missed qualifying while being treated for an unspecified medical condition.
Antonelli, who had been walking something of a tightrope after earning a black and white flag and thereby final warning in Q1, said afterwards: “It was one of those laps that we call the magic laps. I was able to put it all together. It was such a close fight with Max. I’m just enjoying the driver, enjoying the car.”
For Verstappen, it marked the latest chapter in the Red Bull resurgence. Following a first podium of the season at the last race in Montreal, he had struggled for much of the weekend before finally being at one with the car.
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Therefore, it was no surprise when he said: “If you would have told me yesterday I would have been on the front row, I definitely would have taken it. Overall, very happy with how qualifying went. This was a good day.”
Antonelli and Verstappen have both struggled with their starts this season giving the two Ferraris hope off the start line in the grand prix.
It is notoriously difficult to overtake at the street circuit and Sunday’s race will be the acid test for the new F1 regulations, which the sport’s lawmakers hope will equate to more passing manoeuvres than usual as has been the case elsewhere this season.
Photograph by Emmanuele Ciancaglini / Getty Images