Kimi Antonelli takes shock maiden F1 pole for Miami GP sprint

Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli became the youngest-ever pole sitter in Formula 1 history and will start from the front in the sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old Italian, who replaced seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, showed flashes of brilliance throughout the three qualifying sessions with brief stints spent at the top of the timesheets.

His final flying lap, just half-a-tenth ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, put him firmly at the front. Lando Norris starts in third, with Max Verstappen in fourth and Lewis Hamilton down in seventh.

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“It was a very intense qualifying,” Antonelli said afterwards. “I felt really good and confident – the last lap was mighty! I put everything together, really happy to get the pole!

“Tomorrow is going to be nice to start on the front row, a different feeling. I can’t wait for tomorrow, to see how we can do in the sprint and in qualifying.”

Antonelli was just one of two rookies who made it into the third and final session of sprint qualifying.

Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar had a strong and speedy three sessions, sandwiched between Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso in ninth.

The other rookies weren’t as lucky. The first session of sprint qualifying was a story of messy strategy. Three drivers — Jack Doohan, Yuki Tsunoda and Oliver Bearman — missed crossing the line in time to make their final flying laps count.

Doohan was vocal in his frustration with the team’s mistake: “That is not acceptable,” the Australian driver said over the radio while in the garage. “That’s a joke.” Gabriel Bortoleto joined Doohan and Bearman in the elimination zone.

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Verstappen, equipped with a new floor aimed at catching up to the dominant McLarens, failed to close the gap to Piastri and Norris.

Verstappen and George Russell’s attempt to take advantage of a clear track with fresh soft tires at the start of SQ3 didn’t pay off, despite initially swapping purple sectors.

The four-time world champion will start in fourth just ahead of Antonelli’s fellow Mercedes driver Russell in the Saturday sprint race.

Further back, Carlos Sainz’s sprint qualifying run was cut short after a wide dip off the road in SQ2, but both the Spaniard and teammate Albon showed signs of speed on the flat-out portion of the track.

The Miami International Autodrome’s 19 corners kept Sainz from a front-of-the-field start, but his teammate was able to carry the Williams to an eighth-place start.

But all eyes will be on Antonelli at lights out on Saturday. The Miami sprint race starts at 5pm (BST).