Antonelli storms to Miami GP pole

Kimi Antonelli controlled qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix to claim his third consecutive grand prix pole position. He heads a grid comprised of four different teams in the top four positions split across 0.385s.

The championship leader set the benchmark at 1m27.798s with his first flying lap of Q3 to head back to pit lane with a chunky 0.345s gap, but a mistake at the first turn of his follow-up attempt had him abandon the lap, leaving the door open for rivals to pinch the top spot.

His teammate George Russell preceded him over the line but couldn’t match the time, and Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc shortly afterwards couldn’t improve their first times on the gusty and sweltering 126-degree F track. Max Verstappen, however, had timed his run to ensure he was last over the line in a bid to make the most of any improvement in grip, and the Dutchman went purple in the middle sector as he homed in on top spot. He gained by 0.217s, but it wasn’t enough, with Antonelli securing pole position by 0.166s.

“It’s been an amazing day, to be on pole again,” Antonelli said. “It was a good quali. I got a little bit too excited with the last lap of Q3 … I was very stressed, to be fair, because I was just waiting for everyone to finish their laps. At the end it was good enough. I’m really happy with that.

“This weekend has obviously been a little bit more difficult for us, but we’re keeping all this together and we’re maximizing the performance, so I’m very happy with that.”

Verstappen was upbeat about his best qualifying result of the season — up from a previous best of eighth in China — with Red Bull Racing having been far from top spot before its Miami upgrades.

“Over those last few weeks the team has been pushing flat out trying to bring upgrades to the car and making me feel more comfortable with a lot of things in the car, and it really paid off,” he said. “I feel more in control of the car again and I can push a bit more, and then the upgrades are working. To be on the front row is way better than I expected heading into this weekend.

“From here there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and we can push on and try to close the gap further.”

Charles Leclerc will launch from third, his best grand prix grid spot this season, but lamented Ferrari hadn’t been able to qualify closer than his 0.345s deficit.

“It was on the limit,” he said. “At the end of the day we were just not fast enough today. This weekend we brought a significant package, which helped us, but there’s still here and there where we need to improve a little bit. At the end P3 is a good starting position, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Sprint winner Norris will launch from fourth, 0.385s off the pace, ahead of Russell, who again had no answer to his teammate’s single-lap pace this weekend. Lewis Hamilton was 0.521s off the pace for sixth ahead of Oscar Piastri, who was 0.702s off pole despite improving with his second lap.

Franco Colapinto qualified inside the top 10 for a grand prix for the first time since the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (20 months), and in doing so the Argentine gave Alpine its first double Q3 appearance since the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, with teammate Pierre Gasly qualifying 10th, sandwiching Isack Hadjar in ninth on the grid.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified 11th for the third grand prix this season, the Audi driver 0.37s outside a spot in the top 10 and just holding off Liam Lawson for the position.

Haas and Williams were closely matched in qualifying, with Oliver Bearman outqualifying Carlos Sainz ahead of Esteban Ocon outqualifying Alex Albon in places 13 to 16. Arvid Lindblad was knocked out 17th, 0.213s outside of a Q2 slot but 0.965s clear of Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas followed in 20th, around half a second behind Stroll, with teammate Sergio Perez 0.3s further back.

Gabriel Bortoleto, after being disqualified from the sprint over an engine intake air pressure breach, joined qualifying late after work was completed on his car, but his session ended with a rear-left brake fire that forced him to stop on track for attention.

RESULTS