- Antonelli takes third straight Miami GP pole with the weekend’s fastest lap.
- Verstappen’s Red Bull upgrades finally click, earning a front-row start.
- Race start pulled forward three hours as Miami thunderstorms threaten Sunday.
Kimi Antonelli claimed his third consecutive Formula 1 pole position on Saturday, setting a lap of 1:27.798 at the Miami International Autodrome to lead the grid for Sunday’s Miami GP.
The Mercedes driver and championship leader qualified ahead of Max Verstappen, who put Red Bull on the front row for the first time in the 2026 season.
Charles Leclerc qualified third for Ferrari, and Lando Norris took fourth for McLaren despite battling a boost issue through much of the session.
The result came hours after Antonelli had been dropped to sixth in the Sprint following a track limits penalty.
He answered with the fastest lap of the entire weekend in Q3, finishing 0.166 seconds clear of Verstappen and 0.345s ahead of Leclerc. Four different constructors filled the first two rows.
Rain is forecast for race day. No team has meaningful wet-weather data with the 2026-specification cars, which sets up a Grand Prix of unusual uncertainty.
As it happened in the Miami GP qualifying
Q1 opened with most of the field heading straight out on soft tyres. Mercedes held Antonelli and George Russell back while the rest set their first times.
Verstappen went quickest with a 1:29.099, nearly nine tenths clear of his Red Bull team mate Isack Hadjar. Norris sat a tenth behind Verstappen. When Antonelli came out, he went second immediately, just 0.059s off the pace.
The session produced early trouble for Audi. Gabriel Bortoleto’s car was under investigation following his Sprint disqualification for a technical infringement, and he could not take part initially.
The team made a late repair and sent him out for one flying lap, but he was well off the pace. His brakes then caught fire on the return to the pits, forcing him to stop and leave the car on track.
His teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who had missed the Sprint with a power unit problem, at least made it through to Q2.
Oscar Piastri had a difficult Q1 as well. Power drop-outs disrupted his McLaren, and he fell down the order as others improved around him. He scraped into Q2 in 16th place, clearing the cut by just over two tenths.
Joining Bortoleto in elimination were Arvid Lindblad, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
Q2 saw Lewis Hamilton lead the session early, topping the timesheet alongside Russell, the two former teammates posting identical times.
Antonelli then moved to the top on fresh rubber with a 1:28.289, more than a tenth faster than Hamilton.
Norris could only manage ninth during his first run. McLaren CEO Zak Brown said the team were working through a fixable problem. Norris ran again on the same set but did not improve significantly.
Wind was picking up across the circuit by that point. Track temperatures had dropped from 52 degrees Celsius in Q1 to around 49.
Verstappen improved to go fastest late in the session, with Leclerc slotting just behind Antonelli.
Eliminated in Q2 were Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon.
Q3 started cautiously. Every driver wanted to leave their fastest laps as late as possible, hoping track conditions would improve with each passing minute.
McLaren moved first, sending Piastri and then Norris out on fresh tyres. Red Bull followed. Ferrari went next. Mercedes came last.
Norris set a 1:28.183 on the opening runs, but Verstappen and Leclerc both went faster.
Then Antonelli produced his defining lap of the weekend, a 1:27.798 that put him 0.345s clear of Leclerc and nearly four tenths ahead of Verstappen.
The final runs did not change the order. Russell went out first to lead the field, and Verstappen left last. Few drivers improved, the track having lost grip.
Verstappen was the only driver to log purple sectors on his closing lap, but he still finished 0.166s short of Antonelli’s benchmark.
Antonelli had already aborted his own final attempt after locking up at Turn 1. He did not need it.
What the top three said
Antonelli made no attempt to hide his relief after qualifying, speaking with the honesty that has become a hallmark of his public appearances.
“It’s been an amazing day to be on pole again,” he said.
“Was a difficult start of the day with the Sprint, where it didn’t go our way. Happy with the quali, a little bit overexcited on the last lap in Q3, but the first lap was good.“
Antonelli also turned briefly wry on the subject of Sunday, nodding to his well-documented difficulties at race starts.
“It would be nice to not lose any positions tomorrow,” he said.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has previously attributed those start problems to a software issue.
Verstappen sounded more settled than he has at any point this season. He credited Red Bull’s upgrade package with transforming how the car felt beneath him.
“For sure, the car has not been great in the last races, and I didn’t feel comfortable with the layout of the car,” he said.
“The upgrades have made me feel comfortable, so I can push more, and the upgrades are working.”
He added that a front-row start exceeded what he had expected coming into the weekend.
“To be on the front row is way better than I expected heading into this weekend. Let’s see what the weather does, but I am very happy with where we are; it is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Leclerc was measured in his assessment. Ferrari brought a significant upgrade to Miami, and he acknowledged it helped, though not enough to trouble Antonelli for pole.
“It was on the limit, but we were not fast enough,” he said. “We brought a significant package that helped a bit, but we need to improve. P3 is a good starting position, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
On the weather, Leclerc kept it brief. “Looks wet. I think it will be a wet race.”
Miami GP qualifying: Final results
| Position | Driver | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | 1:27.798 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | +0.166s |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | +0.345s |
| 4 | Lando Norris | +0.385s |
| 5 | George Russell | +0.399s |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | +0.521s |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | +0.702s |
| 8 | Franco Colapinto | +0.964s |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | +0.991s |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | +1.012s |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 12 | Liam Lawson | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 13 | Oliver Bearman | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Eliminated in Q2 |
| 17 | Arvid Lindblad | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 21 | Sergio Perez | Eliminated in Q1 |
| 22 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Eliminated in Q1 |
Race start moved forward amid storm threat
Sunday’s race will start three hours earlier than planned. The FIA, Formula 1 and the Miami Grand Prix promoter confirmed after qualifying that the start time has been shifted from 16:00 to 13:00 local time.
Heavy thunderstorms are forecast to arrive later in the afternoon, and officials moved the race to give it the best possible chance of running to completion.
The decision was also taken on safety grounds, covering drivers, fans, teams and staff. With the earlier window now in place, the race may yet avoid the worst of the weather. But the threat has not disappeared entirely, and even a brief shower could reshape the outcome dramatically.
No team on the grid has meaningful wet-weather data with the 2026-specification cars. If the rain arrives, experience and instinct will count for more than data.
Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix could yet become one of the most unpredictable races of the season.
