Kimi Antonelli's best qualifying performance of his short Formula 1 career has come on a Japanese Grand Prix weekend that looked on course to be his weakest so far.
In fact, after ending up more than one second adrift of team-mate George Russell in both FP2 and FP3, Antonelli confessed he felt "very lost" as he headed into qualifying.
He likened it to having hit a wall where he could not work out where any improvement was going to come from.
"I had to make such a step in driving from free practice," he said. "I was very lost in practice.
"I really had no confidence to push more and to progress, and I was kind of like stuck from where I finished in FP1.
"So I headed into qualifying with very little confidence and having to make a really big step in driving."
If Antonelli had carried through his practice form into qualifying, it risked him getting dumped out in Q1 - exactly where he appeared to be heading prior to a critical final lap in that session that got him through.
A hat-trick of gains
It was a combination of factors in the three-and-a-half hours between practice finishing and qualifying starting that helped transform Antonelli's Saturday.
Some of it came from himself, as he spent time sitting down looking at the data comparisons with Russell and going through onboards to try to work out where he was losing out.
"What I really like to do is rewatch my lap because I can see where maybe I do a wrong line or where I could have done better," he said.
Then there was a choice made with the set-up. Rather than lean towards an aggressive solution for ultimate pace, Antonelli preferred to play things a bit safer.
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That manifested itself in him running a bit less front wing than was ideal. This helped ensure that he felt more comfortable to push without the risk of losing the rear end and pitching the car off the track.
Antonelli explained: "Definitely for quali it was a bit too safe. But that's not on the team, it was my decision, because I was feeling good with it in getting the confidence back.
"On that last lap, I had decent confidence - and I probably could have asked the team to push the set-up a bit more on the edge."
Critical too to his improvement was some input from Mercedes reserve Valtteri Bottas, who has been on-hand at Suzuka this weekend.
Aware of the struggles that Antonelli was facing on his first visit to the track (Antonelli missed last year's Super Formula test because of illness), Bottas made sure to spend time with the youngster.
He offered his input on driving lines to nail some of the trickier sequences of Suzuka, as well as tips on what is needed to get the tyres working.
Antonelli's mental challenge
The combination of everything helped Antonelli push his way through a day that he reckoned had been as big a challenge as having his debut race in the rain in Australia.
"Melbourne was a really big test, the race," he said. "But on the mental side, this was a good test as well.
"When you're starting so far off in free practices - and not one free practice, all of them - it's really hard mentally.
"And especially you go into qualifying and you're uncertain of what you can achieve as a result. So it was really good test mentally, and I was happy with how I reacted to it."
After ending up sixth on the grid right behind Russell, who had a difficult Q3, Antonelli actually felt that even more was possible.
"I was getting there step by step," added Antonelli. "Also using two sets [of new soft tyres] in Q1 didn't really help. But that was on me because I didn't do a good enough lap at the start.
"I think two sets in Q3 could have helped me to make a further step."
What derailed Russell
While Antonelli was relieved by his turnaround of form for qualifying, team-mate Russell was left ruing what might have been after he slipped down the order late on.
Russell had been second fastest in both Q1 and Q2 and looked set to be in the hunt for pole position in the final shootout segment.
However, things did not click and, after ending the first run in fourth spot, he changed approach with tyre preparation for his final attempt.
But a much slower out lap meant his tyres were too cold for the opening sequence of corners and a slide early on effectively derailed his hopes - leaving him fifth on the grid.
"[I was] stretching for a bit more from the tyres, slower out lap and ultimately just had no grip at the beginning of the lap," said Russell.
"The track was getting colder, and we went slower on the out-lap, which we knew from all of our experience is not the thing to be doing.
"But we decided that was the right decision and ultimately paid the price. It's part of the game, we got it right last week [in China], we didn't get it right this week."
Russell reckoned the plan backfired because Mercedes had not taken into account the drop in track temperatures at the end of qualifying.
"It was just way too cold," he said. "It got about 8°C cooler through that session, the track temperature, and we didn't react to that.
"Ultimately, we paid the price. But paying the price to end up fifth is not a horrendous price to pay, especially with what's going to come tomorrow [with the chance of rain]."
