Antonelli 'over the moon' and eyeing another Miami pole

Kimi Antonelli admits he is delighted with his unexpected pole position for the Sprint at the Miami Grand Prix, but is already eyeing a repeat in Saturday’s qualifying session.

The 18-year-old became the youngest driver to set the fastest time in any qualifying session in Formula 1 by beating Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris on Friday afternoon in Miami, and will start from pole for the Sprint. With the result, his first top-three performance in any competitive part of an F1 weekend, Antonelli admits it came out of the blue, but his focus is already switching to trying to become the youngest polesitter for a grand prix in the sport’s history Saturday.

“It was a very intense qualifying,” Antonelli said. “I felt really good since this morning, and I felt confident going into qualifying. The last lap was mighty. I put basically everything together and it was nice that it all came very nicely and I’m really happy to get the first pole.

“Over the moon. I did not expect it, but I was feeling good in the car. I was able to improve lap by lap and find that consistency, and in that lap it all came together. I’m super, super happy with that. Now we will enjoy this moment a little bit more, but as well, I want to focus on tomorrow, because I really wanted to try and repeat myself.

“We did quite a long run in FP1 to try and gather as much information as possible. Of course, we don’t really know the pace of the others, but I guess we will see tomorrow, during the race and then about the qualifying. The track is going to keep evolving, so it’s going to be important to be on top of it and try to repeat ourselves.”

Antonelli’s father was present in the Mercedes garage and was able to celebrate with his son after the Sprint qualifying session, and the rookie paid tribute to his family after his landmark result.

“Definitely it was really nice,” he said. “Also to find him in the garage after qualifying, I’m super happy to share this moment with him. It’s so important to me as well, and he’s like a rock and I know I can always rely on him. Really happy to share this moment with him, and I would like to share it with my mom and my sister as well. Hopefully next time.

“Tomorrow it’s going to be nice to start on the front row. It’s going to be a bit of a different feeling, but I really cannot wait for tomorrow and to see how we can do in the Sprint and then in qualifying as well.”