Defending world champion Max Verstappen will start the Miami Grand Prix on pole position after defeating Lando Norris by a small margin of 0.065 seconds.
The Red Bull driver achieved his 43rd career pole in Formula 1. Andrea Kimi Antonelli continues to impress for Mercedes by being third fastest and edging ahead of Oscar Piastri.
In Q3 Verstappen set provisional pole with a lap of one minute, 26.492 seconds, just thousandths ahead of Norris and Piastri, which had more to do with neither McLaren driver finding gains rather than any Super Max heroics.
But Verstappen produced his magic to find the fastest time across the session, a lap time of one minute, 26.204 seconds, which was enough to fend off a late improvement by Norris, who appeared to lose his pole opportunity by bouncing over the inside kerb in the final corner.
What is more remarkable, Max made a mistake into Turn 1 on his final Q3 run and yet was able to set quality sector times despite the error. To take pole position is a fantastic achievement.
Russell was fifth for Mercedes ahead of excellent Williams duo Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc a low-key eighth position. Haas driver Esteban Ocon excelled to grab ninth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the Red Bull.
Piastri led the running in Q2 by two tenths over teammate Norris. Before the final attempt Russell found himself in the drop zone – despite on used tyres – declaring he had no confidence in his Mercedes, but his second lap was more than good enough to go through.
The same cannot be said of Lewis Hamilton, whose second lap was worse than his first, dropping the Ferrari driver out in P12 just 0.039 seconds off P10. Hadjar missed the cut by a mere 0.020 seconds in P11, while Gabriel Bortoleto took an encouraging P13 for Sauber.
Jack Doohan was the best of the Alpines in P14, followed by a disappointing P15 for Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson who suffered from a battery problem.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg just missed the cut in P16, ahead of Fernando Alonso, whose Aston Martin was repaired in time after his sprint race crash. Gasly was P18, ruing traffic on his final lap, with Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman also eliminated.
So a better outcome for the four-time world champion after a time penalty and no points in the sprint race earlier. Max Verstappen achieved an important pole position in qualifying. Going to be interesting if the Red Bull has the race pace next.
Miami Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:26.204
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:26.269
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:26.271
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:26.375
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:26.385
6 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:26.569
7 Alexander Albon Williams 1:26.682
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:26.754
9 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:26.824
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:26.943
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:26.987
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:27.006
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:27.151
14 Jack Doohan Alpine 1:27.422
15 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:27.363
16 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:27.473
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:27.604
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:27.710
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:27.830
20 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:27.999
Max Verstappen delivered an incredible performance to clinch pole position in Qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, the reigning World Champion going fastest from Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli despite a slight error on his final run.
After Verstappen claimed provisional pole during the early runs of Q3 by just 0.003s from Norris, the Dutchman’s prospects during his closing effort looked to be at risk after a wobble in the first corner – but the Red Bull man still went fastest on a 1m 26.204s, six-hundredths clear of Norris who apologised to his McLaren team for taking too much kerb on his flying lap.
Antonelli followed up his pole success in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying to take third, marking the Mercedes rookie’s best result yet in a Grand Prix Qualifying, while Oscar Piastri had to settle for fourth in the McLaren ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell in fifth.
Carlos Sainz led Williams’ charge in P6 from team mate Alex Albon in P7, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc bounced back from his pre-Sprint crash to take P8. Haas’ Esteban Ocon claimed P9 in his first Q3 appearance for the American squad, with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top 10.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-surges-to-pole-position-ahead-of-norris-and-antonelli-in-miami-gp.65c4uuRdWk8qEEivJQPQUx
Lando Norris joked his hopes that Max Verstappen’s newly minted fatherhood would slow the Miami Grand Prix polesitter down had been dashed, noting his rival “did a Max lap”.
Verstappen clinched pole over Norris by 0.065s, having managed to improve in the first sector despite a small wobble in the opening corner.
Although Norris hit back in the second sector to sit just a couple of thousandths of a second behind Verstappen at that point, a miscue on the kerbs at Turn 17 ensured that Verstappen clinched his third pole of the season.
Norris was nonetheless upbeat about his overall performance in Miami, noting that he’d felt more comfortable in the car at the Floridian circuit – although conceded he didn’t necessarily have an answer for Verstappen’s performance.
“Congrats to Max, especially being a dad now. I was hoping it would slow him down!” Norris joked.
“I’m happy with today, happy with the progress I’ve made with the car. Max did a Max lap once again and I can’t fault him. I’m happy and excited for tomorrow.
“It’s all should’ve, could’ve, would’ve stuff [without the Turn 17 mistake]. I didn’t deliver but the pace was there. The car has been feeling good, better than I have done the last few weekends.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lando-norris-hoped-max-verstappen-becoming-a-father-would-slow-him-down/10719509/
McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri says two driving errors left him on the back foot in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix as he settled for fourth on the grid – admitting he “didn’t do a good enough job”.
Piastri and team-mate Lando Norris both looked a sensible bet for pole at the Miami International Autodrome, but neither managed to execute perfect laps to deny four-time world champion Max Verstappen a third pole of the 2025 season.
While Norris felt the final corner was where he lost out the most on both of his Q3 flyers, Piastri rued mistakes at the start of the lap that meant he wasn’t able to improve on his best lap from Q2 as one would expect.
“It was just not the level of execution I needed to have in Q3. It’s never a great qualifying session when your best lap is the first lap of Q2,” he said.
“There was quite a bit left on the table, just a few mistakes on both laps in Q3, which is a shame. On both laps of Q3 I struggled at Turn 1. I think I lost pretty much two tenths. On my first lap I gained back a bit through the rest of sector one and then fell away in the middle.
“On the last one, I eventually recovered some of it at the end, but it wasn’t enough. It was nothing to do with preparation. It was just execution of the driving, unfortunately. I’m not concerned about the pace I had today. It was just that I didn’t use it when I really needed it. I think after the lap in Q2 I just never quite got back into the same rhythm.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/piastri-laments-poor-performance-in-f1-miami-gp-quali/10719526/
Andrea Kimi Antonelli bounced back from a disappointing performance in the Miami Grand Prix sprint race earlier today to secure third place in qualifying for Sunday’s Formula 1 grand prix.
The Mercedes rookie qualified on pole position for the sprint in Miami, but a first-lap tussle with the McLaren of Oscar Piastri saw him tumble down the order. After a raft of post-race penalties finalised the rankings, Antonelli had to settle for seventh place and just two points.
The Italian racer followed his disappointing sprint result with a stellar run in qualifying for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, putting his car third and splitting the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Piastri, who qualified in second and fourth respectively.
“This weekend is going well so far. It was a bit disappointing this morning, but it was good to bounce back this way,” Antonelli said.
“I struggled a little bit during the quali, I didn’t have such a clean run like I had yesterday. But that last lap was quite good. I was a bit too greedy in Turn 1, but the rest of the lap was quite good, so I’m happy with it.”
Antonelli’s best lap in Q3 was a 1m26.271s, which put him just two thousandths of a second behind Norris. Both were outclassed by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who clinched a thrilling pole position with a lap time of 1m26.204s.
“The gaps are super tight, and definitely, if you can gain just a few hundredths, you can make up so many places,” Antonelli added.
“It’s really about putting everything together, and so far this weekend I’m doing that. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/kimi-antonelli-p3-in-miami-good-way-to-bounce-back-after-sprint-disappointment/10719519/