Toto Wolff reveals Kimi Antonelli instruction before Suzuka statement pole

Toto Wolff has revealed an instruction Kimi Antonelli received from his race engineer Peter Bonnington before delivering a statement Japanese GP pole.

Antonelli secured his second pole of the season, besting team-mate George Russell by 0.298s on the first runs of Q3, having been a similar margin ahead through the weekend. 

After completing this banker lap, none of the leading contenders, save Charles Leclerc, improved on their second laps, meaning Antonelli landed the 50th pole for an Italian driver and Mercedes' first at Suzuka since Lewis Hamilton in 2018. 

Analysing the session, Mercedes boss Wolff revealed how Bonnington had simply told Antonelli to put "a banker" in - the lap which ultimately turned out to be pole. 

"Yeah, I think when you hear his radio communications, and on the intercom in the garage, he is not putting himself under too much pressure," Wolff told Sky Sports F1. 

"Putting the first lap in was very good. Bono told him to put a banker [lap] in, and then he pushed it a little bit hard on the last lap, and it wasn't so good. 

"But it is really pleasing to see."

For his part, Antonelli described his happiness at executing a "clean lap" to land pole.

"I'm super happy with the session, it was a good one, a clean one, and I felt very good in the car," he said.

"Everyone was just improving and improving, but it was a good lap, so I'm happy with the session, and now we'll focus on the race."