Rookie Antonelli, 18, youngest to take F1 pole

Grand Prix of Miami

Miami International Autodrome Location: 2 – 4 May Race start time: 2:00 BST on Sunday

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver to take a Formula 1 pole position in the sprint event at the Grand Prix of Miami.

The 18-year-old defeated Oscar Piastri, the championship leader, by 0.045 seconds. Lando Norris’ second McLaren placed third just 0.05secs behind his team-mate Max Verstappen.

George Russell, an Italian rookie, was second fastest behind Antonelli, who was 0. 309 seconds slower.

Before this weekend, Antonelli has remained focused on the start of his career, trying to avoid making a big mistake that might hurt him.

But he consistently showed he could do it and that he did right away at the Hard Rock Stadium. He continued that success into qualifying.

He declared, “I am over the moon.” I didn’t anticipate it,” she said.

“It was good in the car,” I said. I was able to keep improving and close that gap together, going up and down. That’s a really nice outcome for me. We’ll enjoy this, but tomorrow’s focus is important because I’d like to try to repeat myself.

As the Mercedes team wildly celebrated Antonelli’s accomplishment, the team embraced his father Marco in a warm embrace.

After qualifying, Antonelli continued, “It was really nice and also nice to find him in the garage.”

I’m so happy to give him this moment. He is like a rock because it is so important to me. He’s always reliable, I know. I’d like to share it with my sister and mother, but hopefully not the next time.

Prior to this season, Antonelli held the fifth spot on the grid.

Piastri, who is currently 10 points clear of Norris in the championship heading into this weekend, claimed he thought a lock-up at the final corner had caused him to lose pole.

Close qualifying, Norris said after the crash at the final race in Saudi Arabia. Just to get a good lap in there, it felt good and happy.

The Mercedes’ performance today was in a good ballpark, not good enough, but it shows how quickly it can get there. We can still aim for a pole tomorrow because it is so close.

Despite Verstappen becoming the only driver to use two sets of tyres over two runs in the final session, Antonelli’s impressive 0. 309sec margin over Russell was achieved. Everyone else completed one lap while the others left the pits.

The goal of the strategy is to allow the driver to record a “banker” lap and then go all out on the second because the planning is difficult due to the quick turnaround required in the pits after the first lap.

But neither did it succeed. Verstappen did, but Russell was only 0.255 seconds slower than Antonelli and 0.21 seconds off Piastri, and he did not improve on his second lap.

Verstappen, who arrived in Miami late after the birth of his first child, said: “From P1 struggling with a lot of understeer in the car and with all the low-speed corners, you lose quite a bit of lap time.

His lack of pace resulted from the team’s efforts to improve this weekend’s floor.

Verstappen continued, “We were quite competitive in the first sector because a few high-speed corners are there, but we lost a lot of grip once we hit the low speed.” P4 is acceptable, but you must be realistic about the limitations we currently have and how close it is.

Congratulations to Kimi, Russell said. He did a fantastic job. He has been extremely impressive all day.

We wanted to leave early because I wasn’t feeling that confident, and I have been struggling a little bit. Kimi and the team’s reaction to P5 is amazing but not great.

Hamilton, who finished second in the first sprint of the year in China from pole position, was second fastest, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc. After a disappointing first three races, Hamilton’s performance improved, but he was still trailing behind his team-mate by 0.222 seconds.

Ferrari’s driver was unhappy, neither. We are just lacking in speed, even though Hamilton said it was a better session. Keep working on it.

Only the second time this season’s two-time champion’s team has reached that high level, after team-mate Lance Stroll’s success in the sprint in China, finished second, with Williams’ Alex Albon, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, Isack Hadjar, and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finishing second.

Carlos Sainz, Albon’s teammate, should have placed in the top 10, but he made a mistake on his final lap in the second session and will finish 15th.

Yuki Tsunoda, Verstappen’s teammate, was hurt in the opening session, so the sprint will begin in 18th place.