Antonelli beats McLaren duo to claim sensational maiden F1 pole position in Miami
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli beat the McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to become the youngest driver to take a Formula 1 pole position for the sprint event at the Miami Grand Prix. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the nail-biting sprint qualifying in Florida.
Having shown promising pace in the sole practice session, Andrea Kimi Antonelli continued to impress in qualifying. The 18-year-old looked quick on the mediums in SQ1 and SQ2 before he he went on to beat McLaren's Oscar Piastri, the championship leader, by 0.045 seconds.
Lando Norris appeared to be the quicker McLaren driver in qualifying, but he ended up third, a place behind his team mate Piastri. Reigning champion Max Verstappen elected to complete two laps in the final stage of the sprint qualifying, and he was right as his second lap was the quicker one, but it was still only enough for P4 on the grid.
George Russell looked mighty quick on the mediums in practice, but he took only fifth, finishing 0.309s slower than his Italian team-mate.
Ferrari struggled again for qualifying pace, with Charles Leclerc finishing sixth quickest. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton displayed an improved performance compared to his qualifying showings in Bahrain and Jeddah, but he will only line up seventh on the grid in tomorrow's sprint race.
Williams' Alex Albon ended up eighth, ahead of Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar while Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso put in a great performance to complete the top 10, only the second time his team has made it that high up this year, after team-mate Lance Stroll achieved it in the sprint in China.
Running a one-off livery, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg finished in a strong P11, ahead of Esteban Ocon with Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson set to line up in Row 7.
Carlos Sainz displayed great pace, but he made a mistake on his final lap in the second session and will line up 15th.
Lance Stroll endured traffic on his final push lap, with Verstappen parking his car on the racing line on the back straight, and will only start from P16 on the grid.
After his strong qualifying pace last time out in Jeddah, there was disappointment for Yuki Tsunoda in SQ1 as he failed to make the line in time to set a final lap to end the session in P18.
Similar issues affected Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Haas’ Ollie Bearman, who also exited in P17 and P20 respectively while Gabriel Bortoleto will only occupy P19 on the grid tomorrow.
