Antonelli on Miami pole from revived Verstappen
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli bounced back from a difficult sprint race to take pole position for the Miami Grand Prix. It was the Italian's third pole in four grands prix this season and his team-mate and title rival George Russell was down in fifth place, 0. 399 seconds adrift.
Max Verstappen took second, 0. 166secs from Antonelli, after a remarkable turnaround in form for his Red Bull team following upgrades to their car. McLaren's Lando Norris, who dominated the sprint earlier on Saturday, was fourth, behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, whose team-mate Lewis Hamilton was sixth, ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
The race is due to take place at 21:00 BST on Sunday but heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast during the day. F1 officials are meeting on Saturday to assess the latest forecast and discuss whether to change the schedule. Antonelli secured his pole with his first run in final qualifying, and a mistake on his final run meant he faced an anxious wait to see if anyone could improve his time.
But only Verstappen, who was third fastest on the first runs, managed to go faster on a second attempt in the 33C Miami heat. The 19-year-old, who was demoted from fourth to sixth in the sprint by a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, said: "It has been an amazing day to be on pole again. "It was a difficult start to the day with the sprint but super-happy with the recovery.
I got a little bit excited on the final lap of Q3 but the first lap was good enough. I was very stressed just waiting for everyone to finish their laps. " Red Bull, like McLaren and Ferrari, brought a major upgrade to their car for this weekend, and while McLaren's worked well early on, refinements from Red Bull and Mercedes left the sprint winners trailing.