Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli became the 14th Italian to set the quickest time in a grid-deciding F1 session, beating the McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers teams' and drivers' reaction after the sprint qualifying in Florida.

Mercedes

"I did not expect that! It feels fantastic to take my first pole position. When I crossed the line, I thought it was a good lap. I was happy with how it came together. There were a few areas that I felt I could have found a little bit more time, but I was pleased that I managed to hook up all three sectors. I will enjoy this moment but quickly focus on tomorrow as it would be good to repeat today by taking victory in the Sprint itself.

"We know the McLarens, the Ferraris, and the Red Bull of Verstappen have strong race pace. It won’t be easy to keep them behind tomorrow, but I will be giving it my all to do so. It will be important to have a good start and hopefully from there, set a good pace without suffering too much from tyre degradation. After the Sprint, we will have to try and do the job we have done today to secure a good grid position for the Grand Prix on Sunday."

"Firstly, massive congratulations to Kimi! I’m really pleased to see him take his first pole position. He’s been really quick right from the first lap in FP1 and that is really impressive. It is great for him and the whole team; hopefully he can convert that into a strong result in tomorrow’s Sprint.

"I’ve not felt at my most comfortable with the car today. I’ve been struggling a little and have just been a touch off the pace. I chose to go on the early side in SQ3 because I ultimately didn’t quite have the confidence to go in the pack at the end. I didn’t want to get caught by a yellow flag either, so we opted to play it safer.

"P5 is obviously not great, and we need to improve on that in tomorrow’s Qualifying. These Sprint weekends can be tricky, but we will do what we can to enjoy a better day than we have today."

McLaren

“I'm reasonably happy with that result. It certainly wasn’t the best lap ever. I had a lock-up going into the last corner which I think was probably where P1 got away, but congratulations to Kimi [Antonelli] on his first Pole in F1. P2 is still a good result, and I think we’ve got a bit more pace to unlock. I'm feeling positive and hopeful of making up a spot tomorrow.”

“A decent result in a close Sprint Qualifying. We were just pipped by the Mercedes, so congrats to Kimi [Antonelli] on his first Pole. I think there was probably a little bit more in it but otherwise I’m happy with P3 and looking forward to going racing tomorrow.”

Red Bull

“I think what we did in Q3 today was good and the tyres were holding on quite well, but unfortunately from FP1 I was struggling a little bit with understeer in the car. Around here with those low-speed corners you just lose quite a bit of lap time.

"In the first sector, we were quite competitive, as that’s where there are a few high-speed corners, but as soon as we got to the low-speed we were lacking a bit of grip. P4 is alright, it is not where I want to be, but we need to be realistic with the limitations that we have at the moment. I do think we are still quite competitive.

"It is difficult to say where we will be in the Sprint weekend as we don’t have a lot of data in the long runs. Going off my own feeling and the balance of the car, it will be tough with the heat but we will try our best."

Yuki Tsunoda, 18th, 1:29.246
“Today was a disappointing day for me. A lot of cars cost my lap on my first run and then on the last corner I had a big lock up and didn’t get the lap banked. To be honest that lap was pretty gone from turn one already, because of the traffic and I wasn’t able to do a proper lap at all. I knew I was going to be tight for my second run, but I couldn’t do much about it, there’s a car in front of me and I can only go so fast on my out lap.

"We were held up in the garage and these things can sometimes happen, but we know we need to work on communication too. I am pretty far back for the Sprint but I, obviously, will try my best and anything can happen on this track. I will keep positive and try my best."

Ferrari

"We’re not happy with our position. There wasn’t much room for improvement today, and it looks like this is our baseline for now. I’ll try to have a good start in tomorrow’s Sprint and take it from there. It isn’t an easy weekend so far, so we have lots of work to do."

"We’re not quite where we want to be just yet, but there were definitely some encouraging signs, especially in SQ1 where the car felt more connected. There’s still work to do, but we’re focused on maximising the package we have and continuing to build from here."

Williams

Alex Albon, 8th, 1:27.193
"Friday done with and it was generally a very positive day. The car’s been in a really good place from the moment we did the first lap in FP1. I’m happy but it looks like some of the other teams found a bit more performance on their side over the course of the day.

"We were pretty much optimised from the outset, but we fell back a little bit in SQ3. It’s not a bad place to be though. Best of the midfield and we’re in a good place to score points, but there’s still a little bit of homework to be done before main Qualifying tomorrow."

Carlos Sainz, 15th, No time set in SQ2
"In hindsight, it was not the right call to risk getting into SQ3 with only one lap. I made a mistake locking up into Turn 11 and that was it, there was no time left on the clock. Up to that point, the lap was good but I’m obviously not happy because we were fast today. It’s going to be a tough Sprint tomorrow.

"I’ll try my best to recover and go at it again in the afternoon in Qualifying. We seem to have good pace this weekend, so I look forward to getting back on track."

Racing Bulls

Isack Hadjar, 9th, 1:27.543
“It was a stressful Sprint Qualifying today. We didn’t have a good first run in SQ1 as I made a mistake in the last corner, and that put pressure on us to finalize the last push lap. After that, I was happy with the lap I made in SQ2, which allowed us to go to SQ3.

"We were really tight on time, and it wasn’t an ideal position to start the lap as I was only a couple of seconds behind Charles, but I knew we had to make the most out of it. Tomorrow, the start of the race will be crucial, so we’ll try to have a good shot at it, to then try and fight for points.”

"It was quite a messy session, very different to FP1. It's a shame because the car wasn't in a bad place this morning, but we fought with the balance a lot more in Sprint Qualifying. We obviously have some things to analyse as a team, so we hope that will put ourselves in a good place ahead of the sprint race tomorrow."

Aston Martin

"It's a bit of a surprise to qualify where we did because the car is still struggling with balance and it's not always consistent - but all in all, a good day.

"This is the first time we have made it into SQ3 this season so hopefully we can keep up that momentum. Only the top eight cars will score points tomorrow, but we will try our best."

"Sprint Qualifying didn't play out well for me today: I had a lot of traffic on my final push lap and was a bit unlucky with where I came across [Max] Verstappen on the final straight.

"All of that cost me a few tenths and I just missed the chance to get through to SQ2. Let's see what tomorrow brings for the Sprint race, hopefully some opportunities come our way and there is a chance to make up some positions."

Kick Sauber

“I’m happy we maximised our potential in Sprint Qualifying today. Given the challenging FP1 we had this morning, P11 feels even more rewarding. I suffered from a flat spot in my first stint on the medium tyres, leaving me only the soft tyres for another four laps – obviously, that wasn't the best preparation for qualifying.

"It’s definitely a positive start for the team as we enter the Miami race weekend: now our aim will be to retain the competitiveness we have shown today into tomorrow’s Sprint race.”

“I was really happy with my final SQ1 lap, as I was gaining quite a bit on my previous attempt and I think it would have been enough for a place in SQ2. But I had a lock up at turn 17 and effectively lost the lap. It’s a shame, and it will make the Sprint very difficult: overtaking here can be a challenge, especially in tomorrow’s shorter format.

"We will give it our best to improve our position and learn as much as we can about race conditions. Most importantly, we saw today that our performance is quite solid and can allow us to be in the midfield: we can look forward to Qualifying, later tomorrow, where we can hopefully have a stronger showing.”

Haas

“I think there was a little bit more in the car, especially as in the last corner I went in a bit deep, so I need to see how much we lost but I don’t think it was enough to go through. Overall, I think it was quite positive because we look pretty strong, but obviously it’s not quite enough for where we want to be for a Sprint, as it’s the top eight scoring points, but we’re giving it our best tomorrow.

"It was a good preparation ahead of qualifying tomorrow as well. I think the car feels better than in Jeddah which is a good thing, from the simulator work we did and also some of the running we’ve done here, it was quite clear to us, but we still have more to work on.”

“It was tough but I only managed to get one lap in as I missed the flag unfortunately, so we need to analyse it.”

Alpine

“It has been good to be back on track here in Miami where there is such enthusiasm for Formula One. Today was important as we had just one Free Practice session to prepare for Sprint Qualifying and the weekend ahead. This morning’s FP1 was very tricky, but we made some good progress and improvements ahead of Sprint Qualifying this afternoon.

"We lacked some grip at the start of the last run in SQ2 as the tyres still felt a bit cold and that meant that I lost two tenths there however there was more grip later in the lap. We will review today’s work and analyse the learnings. The focus is now to work with the engineers to prepare for tomorrow’s Sprint Race.”

“Of course, from the result, it was not the end to Sprint Qualifying we were hoping for. The feeling in the car was good and we felt good heading into the session. On the final run, we lost places in the queue in the pitlane with the car having to be pushed back by the mechanics, which meant we were out of position and chasing to make it to the line in time.

"It’s frustrating not to be able to put in a second fast lap, particularly with the improvement in lap time we saw and potential in the car. It's something we’ll review and debrief as a team on.

"We will look to maximise what is possible in tomorrow’s Sprint Race to move through the order and learn as much as we can ahead of the rest of the weekend. We also have tomorrow’s Qualifying where we will aim to set ourselves up well for the race on Sunday.”