Antonelli breaks F1 age record to take Miami sprint pole

Mercedes teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start the Miami sprint from pole position in a thrilling end to Friday qualifying. The 18-year-old, who replaced Lewis Hamilton at the German marque this season, completed just one lap in SQ3 and set the benchmark at 1m 26.482s. It comfortably eclipsed Max Verstappen, who had been on provisional pole, and teammate George Russell, who had beaten Antonelli in every previous qualifying session this season. But both McLaren drivers were still to set a lap when the Italian took the checkered flag, due to being last in the queue. Lando Norris was first across the line, but fell 0.1s short. Title leader Oscar Piastri was the final driver to set a time and was up at the end of the second sector, but a slow final split left him 0.045s off the pace, handing Antonelli pole. At 18 years and 250 days old, the Italian becomes the youngest driver to start from pole in any race format. “It was a very intense qualifying,” he said. “I felt really good since this morning, and I felt confident going into qualifying. “The last lap was mighty. I put basically everything together, and it was nice it came very nicely. I’m really happy to get the first pole.” Antonelli, who has never raced in Miami before, said he is looking forward to the weekend unfolding. “Tomorrow’s going to be nice to start on the front row. It’s going to be a bit of a different feeling,” he said. “I really cannot wait until tomorrow to see how we can do in the sprint, and in qualifying as well.” Piastri and Norris followed in the order, with Verstappen set to start fourth after setting two laps in the eight-minute final segment. Russell set his lap early in the session to avoid red flags, but it backfired on the Briton, leaving him 0.309s slower than his pole-getting teammate. Charles Leclerc was 0.326s off pole in sixth, with Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton 0.222s further back. Alex Albon was eighth for Williams ahead of RB’s Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso in Aston Martin’s first top-10 appearance in any qualifying format this season. Nico Hulkenberg missed a spot in the top 10 by just 0.077s but had a comfortable margin to the midfielders behind in a strong showing for Sauber. Esteban Ocon was 12th for Haas ahead of Pierre Gasly, who tapped the barrier exiting Turn 16 coming onto the long back straight, leaving him 13th. Liam Lawson lost his final lap to understeer at the last hairpin, putting him 14th ahead of Carlos Sainz, who logged no time after his sole lap was lost to a big lock-up into Turn 11. Lance Stroll was knocked out 16th ahead of Jack Doohan, Yuki Tsunoda, Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman. Tsunoda — whose first lap was compromised by traffic — was caught out by a slowing Verstappen at the final hairpin as the Dutchman returned to pit lane, forcing the Japanese driver to check up and miss his chance to beat the checkered flag in a failure of team communication. Bearman and Doohan were behind Tsunoda on the road and were both subsequently caught out as they attempted to maintain a gap to set their own laps. Doohan was particularly frustrated by what he saw as a team error after being sent out of his garage at the same time as teammate Pierre Gasly. The appearance of the sister car forced Doohan to check up, but that subsequently left him without enough room to clear the pit wall and steer into the narrow fast lane. He needed his mechanics to wheel him backwards slightly to get into the lane, by which time several drivers had inserted themselves ahead of him in the queue, eventually costing him a chance to set a final lap. “That’s not acceptable,” he fumed over team radio. “If you’re going to send him before me, you have to make sure he’s ready. “I can’t turn out and have to turn in because he’s going to turn into me. “Then you put me out in Q1. That’s a joke.”