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Young gun Antonelli sprints his way into F1 history
AP • May 3rd, 2025 1:00 pm
Photo: AP
Kimi Antonelli became the youngest pole-winner of any Formula One event in history when the 18-year-old Mercedes driver pipped Aussie Oscar Piastri to win the top starting spot for the sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix.
The Italian will start the sprint race on Saturday (Sunday NZST) alongside current F1 points leader Piastri of McLaren, after the Australian lost the pole by .045 seconds to Antonelli on Friday (Saturday NZST).
It's the first time since 2009 an Italian driver has won any pole in F1.
Antonelli is in his first season in F1, where Mercedes hired him to replace seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes has great faith the Italian can deliver, and he did in qualifying for the second sprint race of the season.
"I am feeling over the moon, I did not expect this," Antonelli said.
"It was a very intense qualifying. I felt ... very confident going into qualifying. Really happy to get the first pole. It's going to be nice to start on the front row and see how we can do in the sprint.
Australia's Oscar Piastri finished second in qualifying for the sprint in Miami | Photo: AP
"I did not see that coming, to be honest. I thought the lap was good and I was happy with it.
"There were still a few bits where I could have done a bit better, but I feel super happy with how I put all the sectors together."
The previous youngest pole-sitter was Sebastian Vettel at the age of 21 years and 73 days in 2008 at the Italian Grand Prix with Toro Rosso, now Racing Bulls, before sprint races existed.
Lando Norris, second in the standings, qualified third for McLaren, followed by Max Verstappen, who arrived in Miami in time for practice after skipping Thursday activities as he welcomed his first child with partner Kelly Piquet.
George Russell, the lead driver at Mercedes, qualified fifth, followed by Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Hamilton.
Alex Albon (Williams) was eighth, followed by Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).
Hadjar's Kiwi teammate Liam Lawson will start 14th on the grid after a disappointing run - on team radio after being knocked out in the second session, Lawson said "my god, that was so bad."
Only the top eight places score points in a F1 sprint race.
Piastri leads Norris by 10 points in the series standings and will be chasing his third grand prix win in a row in Sunday's main event, with qualifying for that race taking place after the Saturday sprint.
"We can still fight from there in the sprint tomorrow. All in all pretty happy," said the Australian.
"We've got a bit more pace to unlock hopefully, so I'm feeling positive still. I'll try to make up a spot in the sprint before we get stuck into where the big points are."
