Antonelli was left frustrated as he "left a good chunk of lap time on the table"

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

Despite a strong performance that led to a fourth starting position for today's Singapore Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli was left frustrated as he "left a good chunk of lap time on the table."

Despite his crash on Friday, George Russell managed to bounce back on Saturday to secure pole position for the 16th running of the Singapore Grand Prix.

It was the Mercedes driver’s seventh career pole, his second this year, following on from Montreal, where he went on to win the race. Russell’s best time was a 1m 29.158s, set on his second Q3 run, seven thousandths quicker than his earlier lap that would have also been good enough for pole. This is Mercedes’ fourth Singapore pole, its first since 2018 and its 143rd in total.

His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli also looked strong across all qualifying segments. However, his approach in Q3 was slightly overambitious, and the Italian made a few mistakes on his final two qualifying laps, but he still grabbed fourth place on the grid.

Reflecting on his qualifying session at the Marina Bay Circuit, Antonelli said: "I am slightly disappointed to end our day in P4. I had a good FP3 and put together strong laps in both Q1 and Q2. It didn’t quite come together in Q3 sadly as I pushed a little too hard on both laps.

"I left a good chunk of lap time on the table and that is frustrating. It is a shame as I think we had a real shot at pole position but at least the front row.

"I’m pleased that I’ve managed to get up to speed quickly at a track that I’ve never driven before but there was definitely more there than our final result."

Signing off with a word for his expectations for the race, Antonelli added: "There are some unknowns heading into the race. Not many cars have managed to get a representative long run completed and we know how critical that pace, and tyre management, will be for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

"Starting P4, we have the opportunity to fight for the podium if we do have good race pace and hopefully we can bring home a good result."