Kimi Antonelli has clinched his debut pole position after delivering a stunning lap during Sprint Qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix, the Italian holding off the challenge from both McLaren’s to become the youngest polesitter ever – in any race format – in F1.
A thrilling conclusion to SQ3 saw the name at the top of the timesheets change more than once, with Max Verstappen initially beating George Russell’s benchmark – only for Antonelli to surge through with an effort of 1m 26.482s at the wheel of the Mercedes.
Oscar Piastri fell short by just 0.045s in second, while fellow McLaren driver Lando Norris had to settle for third.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Antonelli, P2: Piastri, P3: Norris, P4: Verstappen, P5: Russell, P6: Leclerc, P7: Hamilton, P8: Albon, P9: Hadjar and P10: Alonso.
What a result from Antonelli! First ever pole position and what a way to do it! A great result for the Italian and a promising start to the weekend! Hopefully he can turn it into a Sprint win.
As for his teammate, Russell qualified 5th, not a bad result as it was very close between the top 6.
A good result for McLaren P2 and P3. They’ve got a good opportunity for the sprint race, this should boost Norris’s confidence a bit more now, as he has seem to struggled this season.
A decent result for Verstappen, P4 for the four time world champion! As for his teammate Tsunoda was out in SQ1 after failing to make it to the line to start a lap, very unfortunate for him.
A decent result for Ferrari, 6th for Leclerc and 7th for Hamilton, a good result for the team and potential for some points today in the sprint race.
A good result for Albon, P8! I think this is now just the normal for Williams, a familiar face in the top 10’s now.
P10 for Alonso, nice to see him making an appearance in the top 10, he will be looking to see if the Aston Martin car can get into the points.
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