Antonelli becomes youngest Pole-sitter in F1 for Miami Sprint

Kimi Antonelli made history under the Miami sun as he charged to the front row in Sprint Qualifying, becoming the youngest pole-sitter in any Formula 1 race format as he prepares to line up alongside Oscar Piastri for the 19-lap Sprint.

Sprint Qualifying 1:

Desperate to make their way out on track to commence the second Sprint Qualifying campaign of the season, every single driver found themselves queuing — or attempting to join the queue — in anticipation of the green light.

Doohan’s session started with a bit of argy-bargy in the pitlane, with the Australian quickly dobbing Liam Lawson in for an unsafe release as the RB driver attempted to push his way into the queue. 

Out on track, the Australian’s first lap left him down in the elimination zone, with his time of 1:29.171s sitting 1.3 seconds behind the benchmark. 

Doohan returned to the pitlane, rejoining on the mandatory medium compound tyre once again, however, a hiccup in the tight pitlane soon foreshadowed the tight margin that would see Doohan failing to make it to the line before the chequered flag. 

Jumping on the radio to berate his team’s error involving his teammate, the Australian deemed the mistake “not acceptable”.

“Oh man, that’s not acceptable, that is not acceptable,” Doohan said over his radio.

“If you want to send him (Pierre Gasly) after me, you have to make sure he’s ready — or before me.

“I can’t turn out — I have to turn out because he’s going to run into me.

“And then you guys put me out of Q1… that’s a joke!”

As a result, Doohan will start the Sprint from P17, with Yuki Tsunoda, Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman also falling victim to the same timing error behind. 

After working his way into the queue, Liam Lawson exited the pitlane to set an initial time of 1:28.914s.

That lap would eventually be his fastest of SQ1, with a costly slide through the tricky Turns 14 and 15 leaving him without an improvement on his next tour of the Miami International Circuit. 

The Kiwi was let off the hook when it came to fighting his way out of the elimination zone, with four drivers missing the cut-off time and Lance Stroll sliding his way through the lap. 

As a result, Lawson scraped through to SQ2 as the driver at risk in P15.

Oscar Piastri picked up where he left off, running a controlled session in Miami.

The Australian opened his Sprint Qualifying campaign with a time of 1:28.156s, placing him in P4 before shaving two-tenths off the lap on his next tour. 

With a time of 1:27.951s, Piastri comfortably advanced to SQ2 in P6.

Once out on track, the shootout kicked off with the top teams beginning to show their hand, however, nothing compared to what was to come. 

Max Verstappen showed no signs of distraction as he represented Red Bull within the top ten, however, he didn’t have the initial pace to match the likes of Mercedes and McLaren — and Williams, with both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz ending the first showing in P3 and P5.

Sitting over five-tenths off the pace, Lewis Hamilton was the fastest Ferrari in 8th, putting on a lacklustre opening SQ1 ahead of Charles Leclerc in P10, however, the teammates still managed to secure a place in the following stage.

The usual suspects advanced without a fuss, however, Red Bull newcomer Yuki Tsunoda was dealt a bad hand when traffic led to his premature exit from the session. 

Dealing with both cars in his way as he exited the pitlane, as well as his own teammate forcing him to back off through Turn 17, the Japanese driver rounded the final corner as the lights went red, condemning him to a Row 9 start alongside Doohan. 

Also knocked out in SQ1 were Stroll, Bortoleto and Bearman, while the Mercedes duo topped the tables. 

Sprint Qualifying 2:

Despite the higher stakes, it was a much calmer start to the second stage of Sprint Qualifying as the drivers gradually rolled out of the pitlane. 

RB only gave Liam Lawson one chance to set a lap during SQ2, withholding its driver in the garage until the final two minutes of the session.

That decision proved costly for the Kiwi who couldn’t put a clean lap together, almost ending his run in the wall at Turn 17 before crossing the line with a time of 1:28:375s.

Sitting 1.2 seconds off the pace, Lawson had the slowest lap time to his name, however, qualified in P14 thanks to Sainz’s own error earlier in the lap.

Also setting only one lap, however, doing so out of early confidence, Piastri exited the pitlane as one of the first drivers on track.

The Australian set went fastest by almost two-tenths with a time of 1:27.354s, returning to the McLaren garage and remaining there through to the chequered flag.

Piastri safely advanced through to SQ3 in P3.

Instantly lighting up the timesheets was Max Verstappen, upping the pace with a lap complied of purple sectors to take the early benchmark, however, just as has been the case in the previous sessions, the Mercedes-powered chargers were hot on his tail.

Kimi Antonelli was the first to demote the new dad before the flying McLaren duo slotted into P1 and P2 as the second half of the field left the pitlane for the very first time.

The last lap dash saw much remain unchanged in terms of the bottom five, however, Carlos Sainz, who was expected to be competitive in the top ten shootout, had a major lock-up at Turn 11 which ruined his chances and left him without a lap to his name. 

Ahead of the Spaniard, Lawson, Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg were also eliminated in SQ2.

At the front end of the field, it was Lando Norris who ultimately settled into the lead position, besting Verstappen by one-tenth to end the second stage. 

Sprint Qualifying 3:

The final shootout of the shortened Sprint Qualifying session started with just two cars on track — Max Verstappen and George Russell.

It was a direct comparison between the two competitors, with the Mercedes driver coming out on top with a flying provisional pole time of 1:26.791s, leaving that as his only attempt as the rest of the field filtered out of the pitlane to join the circulating Red Bull. 

Verstappen found more pace on his next tour of the temporary street circuit, regaining provisional pole position, however, only momentarily when the other Mercedes careered by the 18-year-old rookie charged to the front of the grid with a new lap record of 1:26.482s.

Although coming within 45 milliseconds of Kimi Antonelli, not even Piastri’s speedy lap could deny the Italian driver of a dream pole position in Miami, making him the youngest-ever pole sitter in any race format in Formula 1.

Antonelli will share the front row with the Australian who set a time of 1:26.527s on his one and only attempt, while Lando Norris rounded out the top three.

The #4 McLaren will share the second row with Max Verstappen, beating the pole sitter’s teammate who was forced to settle for P5.

The Ferrari duo could only manage P6 and P7, with two-tenths separating Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in Miami.

As the sole remaining Williams driver, Alex Albon qualified in P8, booking himself a seat alongside the seven-time world champion for tomorrow’s Sprint, while Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten.

Hunting his first win in Formula 1, Antonelli will lead the pack on the 170-metre dash to the first corner, hoping to take the chequered flag where he starts when lights out for the 19-lap Sprint Race in Miami takes place at 02:00 AEST on Sunday. 

Image: Mercedes F1

Sprint Qualifying Results:

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