Kimi Antonelli’s Third Consecutive Pole Pits Him Against Max Verstappen for First Time
· Yahoo Sports
After topping the charts in Q1 and Q2, Max Verstappen had his best Q3 performance to secure a front row starting spot for the Miami Grand Prix next to Kimi Antonelli.
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The Italian teenager secured pole for the third consecutive race; he joins the greats Michael Schumacher and Anton Senna as drivers who recorded their first three poles in a row.
"It's been an amazing day," Antonelli answered Martin Brundle after being handed the stat. "To be on pole again, you know, it was obviously a difficult start of the day with the sprint, where it didn't go our way, but I'm super happy with the recovery, and it was a good qualifying. Obviously, I got a little bit excited on the last lap of Q3, but the first lap was good enough."
Toto Wolff got on the radio to scold the young driver lightly, following his slip up at the end of his second Q3 lap that was well on it's way to improving on time of 1:27.798.
"Well done, mate," Wolff said, "Just need to curb the enthusiasm on that final lap."
"Yeah, just a little bit too excited," Antonelli replied.
"Kimi, Kimi, Kimi, well done."
The four-time champion and the youngest WDC points leader in history will battle to turn one, and Verstappen, in second, has the advantage of both experience and Antonelli’s history of bad starts.
Antonelli has lost spots on the start of all three grands prix and two sprints to start the season. The young driver in his second year in F1 will have to fight to stop the slide against the most aggressive front row starter on the grid.
Max Verstappen steller Q3 time that secured him his best starting position of 2026 came after the Red Bull driver topped the field in Q1 and Q2.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and McLaren's Lando Norris will start on the second row.
Antonelli was lights out quicker than his teammate George Russell in Q3, grabbing provisional pole with his first lap. Russell improved on his second lap through the first two sectors and then faded in the third sector to stay stuck in fifth.
Russell's former teammate Lewis Hamilton will start next to him on the third row.
Oscar Piastri struggled in qualifying, nearly getting knocked out of Q1.Piastri ran one lap on used tires and was 7 tenths below his teammate, Lando Norris, and the qualifying pace. As cars continue to put down fresh times, Piastri tumbles down the order.
Piastri was set for a last-minute hail mary run as the sole rookie of the 206 season, Arvid Lindblad pulled across the line .093 seconds slower than Piastri’s pace.
Following his advancement from Q1 to Q2, Piastri’s race engineer got on the radio to say, "Oscar, we're safely through. "
In which Piastri replied, "safely as an ambitious term and that situation, I think.”
Lindblad was joined below the Q1 cutline by the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, and the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
Gabriel Bortoleto’s day goes from bad to worse: the Brazilian driver’s Audi was found to be out of regulation, with the engine intake air pressure exceeding the maximum permitted limit post-sprint race. Resulting in a disqualification from the race, in which Bortoleto finished in 11th, outside of the points.
And Q1 Bortoleto’s brakes failed, starting a fire and dropping debris across the track, delaying the start of Q2 slightly.
Alpine was the midfield winner, with both Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly making it through to Q3. They join the Mercedes, Red Bulls, Ferraris, and McLarens in the ten-car shootout. Colapinto will start eighth and Gasly 10th with Isack Hadjar separating them.
Niko Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, and Alex Albon were all eliminated in Q2 and will start P11-P16, respectively.
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