Kimi Antonelli is currently the youngest pole sitter in Formula 1 history, having taken pole at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix at 19 years old.

Quick Scoop: Youngest Pole Sitter in F1 🏁

Who holds the record now?

  • Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) became the youngest ever F1 Grand Prix pole sitter at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix.
  • His age at the time: about 19 years, 6 months, and 18 days.
  • He beat Sebastian Vettel’s long‑standing record from Monza 2008, which stood for 18 years.

A bit of context

Before Antonelli:

  • Sebastian Vettel held the record, set at the 2008 Italian GP with Toro Rosso, at 21 years and a little over 2 months.
  • Antonelli had already made waves by becoming the youngest polesitter in any F1 race format (Sprint) before doing it in a full Grand Prix qualifying.

Other young stars on the list

Some other names among the youngest F1 pole sitters include:

  • Charles Leclerc – first pole at Bahrain 2019 (21 years, 5 months).
  • Fernando Alonso – Malaysia 2003 (21 years, 7 months).
  • Max Verstappen – Hungary 2019 (21 years, 10 months).

Here’s a quick HTML table of several of the youngest F1 pole sitters:

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Driver</th>
      <th>Age at First Pole</th>
      <th>Grand Prix</th>
      <th>Year</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Kimi Antonelli</td>
      <td>19 years, 6 months, 18 days [web:3][web:9]</td>
      <td>Chinese GP</td>
      <td>2026 [web:3][web:9][web:10]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Sebastian Vettel</td>
      <td>21 years, 2 months, 11 days [web:3][web:5]</td>
      <td>Italian GP (Monza)</td>
      <td>2008 [web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Charles Leclerc</td>
      <td>21 years, 5 months, 15 days [web:3]</td>
      <td>Bahrain GP</td>
      <td>2019 [web:3]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Fernando Alonso</td>
      <td>21 years, 7 months, 23 days [web:3]</td>
      <td>Malaysian GP</td>
      <td>2003 [web:3]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Max Verstappen</td>
      <td>21 years, 10 months, 5 days [web:3]</td>
      <td>Hungarian GP</td>
      <td>2019 [web:3]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.