Antonelli Claims Miami GP Pole as Verstappen Rises with Red Bull Upgrade

Kimi Antonelli, 19, claimed pole for the Miami GP after a tough sprint, with Verstappen second following Red Bull upgrades. Weather may impact Sunday's race schedule.

Antonelli Secures Pole Position in Miami

Kimi Antonelli, 19, the youngest driver to lead the Formula 1 world championship, recovered from a challenging sprint race to claim pole position for the Miami Grand Prix.

The Italian driver achieved his third pole in four grands prix this season. His Mercedes teammate and championship rival George Russell qualified fifth, trailing by 0.399 seconds.

Max Verstappen secured second place, 0.166 seconds behind Antonelli, marking a significant improvement for Red Bull following recent car upgrades.

McLaren's Lando Norris, who dominated the earlier sprint race on Saturday, qualified fourth, just behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Leclerc's teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified sixth, ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

The main race is scheduled for 21:00 BST on Sunday, but heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast throughout the day. Formula 1 officials are set to meet later on Saturday to review the weather forecast and consider possible schedule adjustments.

Norris Dominates Miami Sprint Race

How to Follow the Miami Grand Prix on the BBC

Antonelli secured pole with his first run in the final qualifying session. A mistake on his final lap led to a tense wait to see if any other drivers could improve on his time.

Only Verstappen, who was third fastest on the initial runs, managed to improve on his second attempt amid the 33°C Miami heat.

Despite being demoted from fourth to sixth in the sprint race due to a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, the 19-year-old expressed satisfaction with his performance.

"It has been an amazing day to be on pole again. It was a difficult start to the day with the sprint but super-happy with the recovery. I got a little bit excited on the final lap of Q3 but the first lap was good enough. I was very stressed just waiting for everyone to finish their laps."

Red Bull, along with McLaren and Ferrari, introduced major upgrades to their cars for the weekend. While McLaren's upgrades showed early promise, refinements from Red Bull and Mercedes left the sprint winners trailing in qualifying.

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Verstappen commented on his team's progress:

"The car has not been at its best in the previous races but also from my side I never felt comfortable with the layout of the car. The team has been pushing flat out to bring upgrades and make me feel more comfortable and it really paid off. I feel more in control and I can push a bit more and to be on the front row is way better than I expected heading into the weekend."

Verstappen's teammate Isack Hadjar, who had a promising start to his Red Bull career, qualified ninth, 0.825 seconds behind the Dutch driver. Hadjar reported struggling with a lack of power throughout the weekend.

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McLaren experienced a drop in performance compared to their sprint race results, where they qualified first and third and finished one-two.

Norris was 0.385 seconds off pole but only 0.04 seconds behind Leclerc.

Hamilton reflected on the session:

"I felt like I was doing a better job but we were slower. Today is probably a little more where we should be. We probably could have been third. The weird thing is how much pace we lost from yesterday. We need to understand that some of that is conditions. It is a lot hotter than this point yesterday and the wind was a little different, but all in all it was a lot trickier, a much messier session from our aide as a team, myself included. Some things to understand. It's not like we did a bad job, I think yesterday everyone did do a bad job and we capitalised and today we are more where we deserve to be."

Leclerc expressed some disappointment despite Ferrari's upgrade, noting they were not fast enough to challenge at the very front. He edged Hamilton by 0.176 seconds.

The top 10 was completed by Alpine's Franco Colapinto, who has shown strong one-lap pace throughout the weekend, Hadjar, and Alpine's Pierre Gasly.

At the rear, Fernando Alonso extended his streak to 40 consecutive grand prix qualifying sessions beating his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll. Both Aston Martin drivers improved after qualifying at the back for the sprint, outperforming the Cadillacs.