Kimi Antonelli set a brilliant lap to take pole position at the Miami Grand Prix ahead of the resurgent Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, amid new developments ahead of F1’s restart in Florida.
Mercedes’ championship-leading Antonelli was only sixth in the sprint after receiving a track limits penalty in a race dominated by McLaren, but the Italian teenager returned to form in qualifying for Sunday’s main event.
In a frantic session in which each of the ‘big four’ teams on the grid looked like they had a chance of taking pole at one stage, Antonelli set a blistering first Q3 time of 1m27.798s, setting an ominous benchmark for his rivals.
Although a mistake at the start of the final attempt cost him a chance to improve his time, Antonelli still finished comfortably in the lead, as Verstappen, second in a heavily upgraded Red Bull, and Charles Leclerc, third in a similarly overhauled Ferrari, finished the final two tenths and three tenths of a second behind the leading Mercedes, respectively.
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Kimi Antonelli recovered from a difficult sprint in Miami and took his third consecutive Grand Prix pole position with a dominant lap. Max Verstappen moved up to second on the grid, but still had a lead of more than 10 seconds.
However, sister Mercedes’ George Russell struggled again, following in the footsteps of legends Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher to take the first GP pole position of his career in three consecutive races, qualifying in fifth place, just four-tenths behind an increasingly confident Antonelli.
“It was a great day to be on pole position again. It was a difficult start as things didn’t go my way in the sprint, but I’m very happy with my recovery,” said Antonelli, whose world title gap with Russell was reduced to seven points after a penalty in the sprint.
“I got a little excited on the last lap of Q3, but the first lap was good enough and I’m really happy.”
But for the first time in those three races, Antonelli will be accompanied by four-time world champion Verstappen. The Dutchman built on an already successful start to the weekend to put Red Bull’s first upgraded car of 2026 on the front row.
But McLaren experienced what Norris called a “reality check” as the sprint pole sitter and one-two winner fell back to fourth on the grid alongside the reigning world champion and seventh alongside Oscar Piastri.
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Oscar Piastri said “something strange happened” during a difficult qualifying session in Miami. The McLaren driver pointed to the wind and tricky track conditions, which led to interrupted running.
Lewis Hamilton, driving the other Ferrari, qualified sixth between Russell and Piastri, just a little closer to teammate Leclerc, who had said he would make significant changes to his car’s set-up for Friday’s sprint qualifying.
The rest of the top 10 reflected the same rankings as Friday.
For Alpine, Franco Colapinto was once again eighth, ahead of Red Bull’s Izak Hajjar (whose pace difference with teammate Verstappen was once again wide at 0.8 seconds) and Alpine’s second-placed Pierre Gasly.
Miami has been blessed with sweltering sunshine so far this weekend, but Sunday’s forecast called for constant rain and a chance of thunder.
On Saturday evening, after qualifying, officials met to discuss the situation with F1, the FIA and the Miami Grand Prix, before issuing a joint statement confirming that the race would start three hours earlier at 6pm UK time (1pm local) due to heavy rain forecast for the late afternoon as originally planned.
Verstappen praises Red Bull’s ‘incredible’ turnaround, but what happened to McLaren?
Most of F1’s 11 teams introduced various upgrades to their cars in Miami after being forced off the track for five weeks following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs.
As a result, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull all looked more capable of taking on early championship leaders Mercedes on pure pace than at any of the opening three rounds in March.
However, while McLaren proved their winning team early in the weekend in sprint format, full qualifying showed that the pecking order for the weekend was still to be determined as Mercedes, and especially Antonelli, fought back and Red Bull pushed the pace further forward.
Verstappen quickly broke out of the blocks in Q1, took the lead in Q2, then wound up closest to the flying Antonelli in Q3, finishing 0.166 seconds off pole position on his final attack.
“It’s an incredible turnaround for us,” Verstappen admitted. His best Grand Prix result so far this year was sixth place in Australia.
“I didn’t really feel like I was in control of the car until this weekend. I didn’t know what was going to happen.
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George Russell said he was struggling in Miami after qualifying fifth, admitting the circuit didn’t suit his driving style.
“The team has brought some really nice performance upgrades to the car. It’s a much easier car for me to drive and as soon as I got in the car it really clicked. It felt great, much better.”
“For us, it’s a bit of a surprise to be in the front row, but we accept it. It’s a big boost for the whole team and we’re moving in the right direction.”
But McLaren surprisingly took a step back after gaining a sprint advantage with both Norris and Piastri lapping slower than in sprint qualifying 24 hours earlier.
“It was a little thing,” Norris said. “The wind was a little stronger, the direction was different, the temperature was different, but it’s the same for everyone, right?
“I think both cars obviously struggled a little bit more than yesterday and we need to understand why. At the same time, we don’t feel like we did a bad job. But yesterday the other guys did a bad job and today they did the job they should have done.”
“Mercedes is as fast as we are. If you look at the GPS of Ferrari and Red Bull, there are a lot of places where they are faster than us. So we just did a very good job yesterday and to win the sprint.”
“But qualifying was a bit of a reality check. But it was more about where we need to be and honestly where we need to be.”
Sky Sports F1 Miami GP Schedule
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The Miami Grand Prix is a unique experience. Check out some of our favorite moments from the past few years.
Sunday, May 3rd
2:25pm: F2 Feature Race
4pm: Miami GP Build-up: Grand Prix Sunday
6pm: Miami Grand Prix*
8pm: Miami GP reaction: Checkered flag*
9pm: Ted’s Notes*
*Also held at Sky Sports Main Event
F1 will resume the 2026 season in Miami. Watch the Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 from 6pm on Sunday. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
