Antonelli wins chaotic Miami Grand Prix to stretch F1 championship lead

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli will start today’s Miami Grand Prix pole. Antonelli only finished sixth in the Sprint earlier on Saturday but delivered a time good enough for pole with his first effort in Q3. Antonelli’s lead at the top of the drivers’ standings was cut to seven points to his teammate George Russell after the Sprint but has the chance to extend his lead today.

“It has been an amazing day to be on pole again,” Antonelli said. “It was a difficult start with the Sprint when it did not go our way but super happy with the recovery. I got a bit excited with the last lap in Q3 but the first lap was good enough and I am really happy with that.”

Antonelli will be joined on the front row by Max Verstappen, who was the only driver to properly improve with his second and final run in Q3.

“It is an incredible turnaround for us,” said Verstappen. “I really did not feel in control of the car up until this weekend. I did not know what would happen with it. The team have brought a really good performance upgrade to the car, made it more driveable for me and it really clicked as soon as I jumped in the car here it felt great, or a lot better. For us, to be on the front row, is a bit of a surprise but we take it. It is a massive boost for the whole team and we are heading in the right direction.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start third, with McLaren’s Lando Norris joining him on the second row in fourth. Norris won the Sprint earlier on Saturday as part of a McLaren one-two but qualifying was trickier for the team, with Oscar Piastri set to start today’s race in seventh.

“There were little things,” said Norris. “It was a bit windier, the direction was different, temperatures. But same for everyone, right? I think both cars clearly struggled a bit more than yesterday and we need to understand why. At the same time, it’s not like I felt we did a bad job. But other people did a bad job yesterday and today they did the job they should have done.

“Mercedes are just as quick as us. When you look at the GPS from Ferrari and Red Bull, there are many places they are quicker than us. So we just did a very good job yesterday and in the Sprint to win. But qualifying was a little reality check. But it is more where we deserved to be and where we should be honestly.”

The race has been brought forward by three hours due to the threat of thunderstorms. It was set to get under way at 9pm BST (4pm local time) but the FIA and F1 have announced a new start time of 6pm BST.