George Russell labelled qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix as a "strange session" despite finishing second, behind Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli.

The drivers' championship leader set a lap time 0.298 seconds slower than Antonelli, whose first run of 1:28:778 in the final qualifying session was enough to clinch pole position.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will start on the second row, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in fifth and sixth respectively, while Max Verstappen's early-season struggles continued with a Q2 exit.

Russell and Antonelli have largely dominated the 2026 Formula One season so far, though the British driver was not comfortable throughout qualifying in Japan.

He was over 0.6 seconds slower than Antonelli in the second qualifying session, with Russell saying in Q2: "I think we're missing something here."

And though he reduced the gap to his team-mate in the end, Russell was not completely satisfied with how things went on Saturday.

"It was a really strange session for us," said Russell.

"We were both very fast all weekend. We made some adjustments after FP3, and then at the beginning of qualifying, we were nowhere.

“A really difficult session – a bit annoying because it’s been two weeks in a row now.

"In China I was much more competitive and then it went wrong in Q3; here I felt pretty confident after practice and then it was wrong.

"Very lucky again to be in P2. The last two weekends it's gone wrong come qualifying, but the race is tomorrow and there's still a lot to play for."

YES TEAM! A THIRD consecutive front row lockout to start the season  pic.twitter.com/rRIaxUHeKF

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 28, 2026

Antonelli's pole marked the 50th time an Italian driver has achieved that feat in Formula One history.

Italy is the sixth country to achieve 50 or more pole positions in the competition.

Despite some disappointment over his final run, Antonelli was delighted to secure his second pole position in as many races.

"I'm super happy with the session. It was a good one, it was a clean one," said Antonelli.

"I felt very good in the car and every run I was improving and improving.

"A shame for the last lap because of a lock up at Turn 11, but it was a good one. I'm really happy with the session."

Japanese Grand Prix qualifying top 10:

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

2. George Russell (Mercedes)

3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. Lando Norris (McLaren)

6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

7. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

8. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)

9. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)

10. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)