Published May 3, 2026
Championship-leading teenager Kimi Antonelli took pole position at the Miami Grand Prix, where the start time of the race was brought forward by three hours due to predicted heavy rain.
The 19-year-old Italian, F1’s youngest ever title race leader, resisted a late charge from four-time champion Max Verstappen in Saturday’s tense qualifying session.
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The Mercedes driver set the fastest lap of 1 minute 27.798 seconds, beating Red Bull’s Verstappen to set the top time, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third.
World champion Lando Norris, who won the sprint race earlier in the day, will start his McLaren from fourth on the grid on Sunday.
This was Antonelli’s third pole position and third in consecutive races, a feat that ranks him in the record books alongside great former champions Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
Mercedes teammate George Russell was fifth, with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in a second Ferrari and Oscar Piastri seventh in a second McLaren.
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto finished eighth, ahead of Red Bull’s second-placed Izak Hajar and Alpine’s second-placed Pierre Gasly.
“It was a great day to be on pole position again,” Antonelli said.
“The previous sprint was obviously difficult for me, but I’m very happy with this recovery. I got a little too excited on the last lap of Q3, but the first lap was good enough.”
“It was very stressful waiting for everyone to finish their laps, but it was enough. We hope to have a magical start tomorrow.”
“Even more intense storms”
It was announced on the eve of the race that the Miami Grand Prix would start at 1pm (1700 GMT) instead of the originally scheduled 4pm (2000 GMT) due to the predicted extreme weather conditions including the possibility of thunderstorms.
The sport’s governing body, the FIA, said in a statement that it, along with commercial rights holders and local promoters, took the action “due to weather forecasts for severe rainstorms in the late afternoon, close to the originally scheduled race start time.”
“This decision was taken to minimize disruption to the race, maximize time to complete the Grand Prix in the best conditions, and prioritize the safety of our drivers, fans, teams and staff.”
The changes come as F1 returns from a five-week hiatus due to the US-Israel war against Iran, with several teams exploiting car upgrade packages.
“Being on the front row was much better than I expected,” Verstappen said after coming close to his personal best in the much-improved Red Bull.
“Let’s hope for a good start. This year we didn’t get off to a very good start. This year we got off to a good start.”
“The team has been working hard over the last few weeks to make me more comfortable in the car.”
“There’s no grip”
The qualifying session began in sweltering heat and swirling winds with Valtteri Bottas leading the way in his Cadillac, followed by teammate Sergio Perez.
Norris and Verstappen set the pace along with Antonelli and the two Ferraris, and it took some time for the lap times to collapse before the frontrunners were able to set fast laps.
Verstappen complained that the tires had “no grip” and Hamilton took the lead with a time of 1 minute 28.477 seconds, losing the lead to the two Ferraris, but Antonelli took over with a time of 1 minute 28.352 seconds, and Russell took third place with a time of 1 minute 28.352 seconds.
After Norris won the early sprint race ahead of Piastri in the McLaren’s one-two, Ferrari clearly improved its set-up.
Like the Italian team, Mercedes seemed to be fast, with Antonelli improving his time to 1 minute 28.289 seconds and Verstappen taking command in the end with a time of 1 minute 28.116 seconds, finishing Q2 ahead of Antonelli, Leclerc, Piastri and Hamilton. Norris moved up to seventh place.
Piastri and Norris set the pace in Q3, with Verstappen and Leclerc outpacing them, with Antonelli setting a blistering lap of 1 minute 27.798 seconds to take provisional pole after the first run, three tenths clear of Leclerc’s Ferrari.
The top five were separated by just one-hundredth of a second, with Hamilton in sixth place, stopping briefly 0.578 seconds off the Italian pace before some late-final drama.
