Lewis Hamilton hailed Kimi Antonelli for becoming the first teenager to claim a Grand Prix pole position, before turning his focus to formulating a "different tactic" to turn his early Mercedes-challenging pace from the Shanghai Sprint into a stronger result in Sunday's full-length race.
Just over a year after replacing Hamilton as George Russell's team-mate when the seven-time world champion moved to Ferrari, the 19-year-old Antonelli became F1's youngest-ever polesitter on Saturday - beating Sebastian Vettel's record, which had stood since 2008, by a full 20 months.
Hamilton qualified third behind Antonelli and Russell - whose bid for successive Grand Prix poles at the start of the new season was compromised by electrical problems - and, after congratulating the young record-breaker in parc ferme, paid tribute to the Italian teenager when sitting next to him in the post-qualifying press conference.
"I have to say a big congratulations to this big lad here, to Kimi," said Hamilton, F1's record-holder with 104 pole positions.
"It's an amazing achievement to come into… Well, he took my seat! And he hit it hard from the get-go, so it's really great to see him progressing and he really deserves it.
"And a great record. It's going to take a while for someone to ever get close to that one."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Your Site F1: "Many said the kid was too young, the kid was too young to be in a Mercedes, we should have prepared him otherwise.
"And the kid did good today."
Antonelli will now bid to make it third time lucky from the grid this year having lost ground from second place at both the start of last weekend's Australian Grand Prix and Saturday's Shanghai Sprint.
By contrast, Ferrari have made lightning getaways so far this season with Hamilton on Saturday following team-mate Charles Leclerc's lead from Melbourne by seizing the lead from Russell on the first lap of the Sprint and duelling with the title favourite over the race's opening laps.
However, having seen his tyre wear suffer and eventually lose out on second place to Leclerc in the 19-lap dash, Hamilton told Your Site F1: "I have to figure out a different tactic tomorrow.
"Today was the first time I was in that battle with the energy deployment.
"I made some changes to the deployment going into qualifying, which was better for us, and hopefully better for us tomorrow.
"Something happens when they get to qualifying, they are able to eek out more power somehow. For us, I have to figure out something different because I can't kill the tyres like I did today.
"I need to go the distance tomorrow and figure out how I can keep pace, like I did in the last race [in Australia]."
Hamilton, still chasing his first podium finish for the Italian team heading into his 26th race for them, added in the press conference: "It's still going to be a challenge, but I'm sure we'll have some fun.
"I'm looking forward to it. We learned a lot in the Sprint race, so let's hope tomorrow is not as windy as this, and our goal is to try and break the gap between these [Mercedes] guys somehow."
Ferrari have not won a Grand Prix since October 2024 and, while downplaying their chances of defeating the Silver Arrows here, Hamilton is still hopeful that "maybe there's a way" to do so over the 56-lap distance.
"I think it's highly unlikely that we will be able to beat them in the race. I mean, in our statistics they've got some between four and six tenths race pace," added Hamilton.
"Whether or not we saw that in the first race or not, I think in clear air they're just above us at the moment.
"So, I don't know, maybe with strategy, maybe something can happen, maybe with the start, maybe there's a way. I definitely need to make sure I don't kill my tyres trying to either keep up with them or keep one behind. I need to drive better."
After battery problems had initially ground his W17 to a halt on his out lap in Q3, Russell and Mercedes recovered impressively to secure another front-row lockout for the team.
The Briton is still favourite to win Sunday's race and maintain his perfect start to the season but is wary of the threat Ferrari's Hamilton and Leclerc - this time starting in tandem on the second row - pose to both him and Antonelli again at the start in particular.
"If we can hold one-two, it will be challenging for them to fight because I do think we have a slight advantage," Russell told Your Site F1.
"Of course, we won't do anything silly between us. It's the first time we have them both on the second row together and we know how quick we are off the line.
"If we are one-two after Turn One, I will be happy but I think we all know it won't be straightforward."
And Antonelli, who would become F1's second-youngest race winner after Max Verstappen were he to convert pole into a maiden victory, said: "[Ferrari] certainly look very strong, especially also on cold tyres.
"They look like they've got good pace, but of course also the start is a very strong point of theirs. So yeah, just going to try to have a clean start and then we'll see from there."
Sunday March 15
2.35am: F1 Academy Race 2*
5.30am: Chinese GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
7am: THE CHINESE GRAND PRIX*
9am: Chinese GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
10am: Ted's Notebook*
*Also on Your Site Main Event
Formula 1 is in Shanghai for the first Sprint weekend of the 2026 season at the Chinese Grand Prix, live on Your Site F1.
