21:44
Verstappen goes back to the top with a 1m28.116s. So, whatever his issue was in his first run, Red Bull has fixed it.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 2026 Miami F1
© XPB Images
F1 Miami LIVE: Antonelli snatches pole in tight grand prix qualifying
Live text coverage of Saturday's sprint and main qualifying action from the 2026 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix
Key Moments
- Antonelli takes pole
- Antonelli tops Q1, Verstappen fastest in Q2
- Hulkenberg, Lawson, Haas, Williams out in Q2
- Lindblad, Aston, Cadillac, Bortoleto out in Q1
The 2026 Formula 1 season resumes this weekend, as the series makes its first of three visits to the United States of America, beginning with the Miami Grand Prix.
A recent addition to the calendar, the circuit around the Miami Dolphins' NFL stadium marks the fourth round of the 2026 season and the first race in five weeks.
The war in Iran forced F1 to cancel the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, meaning no racing took place in April. However, this offered the 11 teams plenty of time to work on car development.
More significantly, this weekend's Miami Grand Prix sees the debut of new engine regulations aimed at improving the qualifying spectacle, as well as safety, following the scary shunt for Ollie Bearman at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Reigning world champion Lando Norris will started on pole for today's sprint, having topped a tight sprint qualifying on Friday evening in Miami, and went on to take a dominant win.
The vastly updated McLaren appears to be working well this weekend so far, with Oscar Piastri third after a scrappy lap in the sister car.
Mercedes looks to be on the back foot, as it elected against any major updates ahead of a significant package of upgrades for the Canadian Grand Prix in a few weeks.
Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli was second on the grid in sprint qualifying, while team-mate George Russell was sixth. They finished fourth and fifth on the road, but Antonelli was dropped to sixth because of a track limits penalty.
Ferrari's updated car looked like it was delivering across Friday, but Charles Leclerc only came away with a best of fourth in sprint qualifying, which he converted to third in the sprint.
Max Verstappen was much happier with his Red Bull after Friday, claiming that he can "trust" it more than in the opening three rounds.
Qualifying for the grand prix concludes Saturday's track action.
2026 F1 Miami Grand Prix: Saturday schedule
Sprint - 5pm BST
Qualifying - 9pm BST
02 May 2026
21:43
F1 Miami - Q2 chequered flag
Chequered flag is out in Q2.
21:43
Antonelli improves to a 1m28.289s.
21:42
Mercedes has told Antonelli that there are gusts of 25km/h into Turn 11.
21:40
Norris asks: "Why do I have no deployment out of Turn 16?"
But his team says "deployment is correct" and suggests it could be the wind.
21:40
Norris posts a 1m29.040s, which is only good enough for ninth. He's 0.688s off the pace, but Lawson in 11th is about half a second behind right now.
But what will trouble him is that was a fresh soft for Norris.
21:38
Norris goes onto a flying lap.
21:36
We're seeing a very similar pattern to qualifying on Friday. Session-to-session showed quite a mixed up order at the sharp-end, with all four top teams showing good speed, but then it disappeared, as we've seen with Red Bull.
21:36
Norris does not have a lap on the board right now.
21:35
Antonelli, Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Colapinto, Gasly and Lawson are you top 10 with eight minutes to go.
21:35
Antonelli takes over top spot with a 1m28.352s, while Russell is third on an identical 1m28.477s to Hamilton. That's a bit more like it from Mercedes!
21:34
Piastri up to third with a 1m28.902s.
21:34
Norris made a mistake on his first flying lap going into Turn 6.
21:33
Hamilton now fastest with a 1m28.477s from Leclerc, 0.065s splitting them.
21:33
There was a little bit of traffic for Verstappen on that lap. But it was also a scrappy lap - lots of drops in traction.
21:32
Verstappen goes top with a 1m28.931s. Hadjar only 0.010s behind him.
21:28
F1 Miami - Q2
Pitlane has opened for Q2.
As always, the top 10 at the end of this session will progress to the pole shootout.
Antonelli set the benchmark in Q1 at 1m28.653s.
21:26
Q2 will start at 4:29pm local time, so in three minutes.
21:26
Aston Martin will be slightly encouraged by its performance in Q1. Both Alonso and Stroll beat both Cadillacs on pace, though Alonso was about a second away from 17th.
21:24
F1 Miami - Q2 delayed
Q2 has been delayed while the stricken Audi is recovered.
21:24
What a difference a day makes for Bortoleto. He's was 11th in sprint qualifying. He'll start last for Sunday's grand prix.
21:21
Fire - Bortoleto
Bortoleto's Audi is limping back to the pits with one of his brakes on fire.
That's two Audis suffering fires today!
21:20
Kimi Antonelli leads Q1 from Leclerc and Verstappen.
Lindblad, Alonso, Stroll, Bottas, Perez and Bortoleto drop out of Q1.
Piastri is safe into Q2, just.
21:18
Piastri now 16th! He's in real danger.
21:18
Lots of improvements. Piastri shuffled down to 14th. Leclerc has just gone second.