Kimi Antonelli seals hat-trick of F1 poles as Mercedes bounce back at Miami Grand Prix
Kimi Antonelli makes it three F1 pole positions in a row in Miami.
Kimi Antonelli made it a hat-trick of pole positions as Mercedes bounced back in a topsy-turvy qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old Italian, who leads the championship by seven points from Mercedes team-mate George Russell, beat Max Verstappen in his improved Red Bull by 0.166 seconds to claim his third consecutive pole of 2026.
Despite Verstappen’s best efforts, Antonelli didn’t require a second run in Q3 to seal pole and it was a good job after he was forced to bail out of it after locking up his tyres into Turn 1.
Charles Leclerc was third-fastest for Ferrari as he wound up 0.345s adrift of Antonelli.
Antonelli has followed in the footsteps of F1 legends Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna in having claimed the first three poles of his career at three successive races.
"It's been an amazing day to be on pole again. It was a difficult start with the Sprint when it didn't go our way but super happy with the recovery," Antonelli said.
"I got a bit excited with the last lap in Q3 but the first lap was good enough and I'm really happy with that."
Lando Norris, who claimed pole and took a dominant victory in the sprint, could only take fourth, 0.385s off the pace in his heavily-upgraded McLaren.
Russell once again struggled to match the pace of his younger team-mate as he was forced to settle with fifth, four tenths down on Antonelli.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton took sixth in his Ferrari, ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who survived a scare that saw him scrape though Q1 with a time only good enough for 16th.
Franco Colapinto impressively put his Alpine eighth and ahead of Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull, while Pierre Gasly made sure both Alpines featured inside the top-10.
Nico Hulkenberg once again qualified 11th for Audi ahead of Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls and the Haas of Ollie Bearman.
Carlos Sainz put his Williams 14th in the middle of a Haas sandwich, with Esteban Ocon 15th and the other Williams of Alex Albon in a frustrated 16th and slowest in the second part of qualifying.
Arvid Lindblad was 17th for Racing Bulls as he joined the usual suspects of Aston Martin and Cadillac in the bottom six.
Fernando Alonso was 2.5s off the pace as he outqualified Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll to take 18th, ahead of the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
Gabriel Bortoleto will start Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix 22nd and last after completing just a single lap in Q1 following issues with his Audi power unit.
The Brazilian was disqualified from the sprint after Audi’s intake pressure was found to be above the 4.8bar limit, and therefore not in compliance with the regulations.
As Bortoleto was returning to the pits, his brakes caught fire, concluding a dramatic day for Audi.
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