Kimi Antonelli clearly faster than George Russell: What the World Championship leader has to say

Kimi Antonelli was in fine form throughout the race weekend in Belgium. The World Championship leader from the Mercedes team had to settle for sixth place on the timesheet in the first practice session. Nevertheless, he was faster than his team-mate George Russell, who was just under three-tenths of a second slower and finished in eighth place.

In the second and third practice sessions, Antonelli was the fastest on both occasions, whilst Russell had to settle for eighth and fourth place respectively. The Briton was also significantly slower than his young team-mate in qualifying: Kimi Antonelli secured pole position on the 7.004 km circuit with a best time of 1:44.361 minutes. George Russell once again finished fourth, this time just under half a second off the teenager’s best time.

Antonelli managed to improve significantly towards the end; his second Q3 attempt was half a second faster than his first, which was in the same ballpark as Russell’s final lap time. When asked where he’d found that extra time, the curly-haired driver replied after the qualifying session: “In every corner. I was just a bit quicker and carried that speed through. It wasn’t easy, because I was struggling with the superclipping, which was getting worse and worse.”

And how did he manage to be so much faster than Russell? Antonelli found significantly more time in the Pouhon section in particular, as a look at the data revealed. “I’ve felt very comfortable in the car all year so far,” said the driver from Bologna when asked about it. “That’s why I also had a lot of confidence in the car in the slower and medium-speed corners. The high-speed corners weren’t such a big challenge in qualifying; rather, it was the section after Pouhon that really mattered – in the chicane, and also in corners 5 and 6. So I felt good in the car, and it’s great that my confidence is growing with every lap.”

Topic of the week

2027 MotoGP grid: Almost a quarter of the riders are new – implications for SBK

The 2027 MotoGP grid will feature five new regular riders, with at least three of those dropped set to move to the World Superbike Championship. The ones to suffer as a result are Alvaro Bautista and Danilo Petrucci.

Read more

TV program

Live

Madrid: Das Rennen Re-Live

FIA Formula One World Championship

13.09.2026 - 17:30