Oscar Piastri will start the Miami Grand Prix from seventh spot after a disappointing qualifying session where world championship leader Kimi Antonelli grabbed a third straight pole position.
The Mercedes teenager has taken a liking to the Florida circuit, having become the youngest driver ever to nab a pole when he did so for the sprint race last year.
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McLaren picked up a 1-2 in the sprint race earlier in the day with Lando Norris winning from pole and Piastri producing an impressive display.
But once qualifying began, Mercedes’ dominance continued with Antonelli fastest in Q3 with a lap time of 1:27.798.
The 19-year-old Italian joined elite company in doing so – the only other drivers to secure their first three pole position in succession are F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
“It’s been an amazing day to be on pole again. It was a difficult start with the Sprint when it didn’t go our way but super happy with the recovery,” Antonelli said.
“I got a bit excited with the last lap in Q3 but the first lap was good enough and I’m really happy with that.”
“Hopefully a magic one happens tomorrow. It would be nice to not lose any positions but we will do our best,” he added.
“This weekend has been more difficult for us but we are keeping it together and maximising the performance, so I’m happy with that.”
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Antonelli will be joined on the front row by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (+0.166), while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (+0.345) and McLaren’s Norris (+0.385) will start from the second row.
It means there are four different teams in the first four positions, which throws things open after the teams unveiled upgrades to their respective cars this weekend following the five-week break.
The fact the winner has not come from the front row in the last four races in Miami will also give several drivers a confidence boost.
But McLaren will be disappointed that their advantage from earlier in the day seemingly evaporated in qualifying.
Piastri battled with a power issue in the early stages of the session.
It is not the first time this season the Australian has been plagued by such an issue with it ruling him out of the Chinese Grand Prix before the race began.
“It was all a little bit random. Not the smoothest of sessions, especially the last lap of Q3,” Piastri said.
“I did what I thought was a good job through turn four, five and six, and then something weird happened and that’s why my middle sector was so good.
“I lost a whole bunch of time with the super clip when I didn’t expect it and then had more energy in the back straight.”
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown also told Sky Sports that both cars were having “a little bit of boost issue” even though Norris was told over the team radio that it was largely the fault of the wind when he questioned why he had “no deployment out of Turn 16”.
“I think both cars clearly struggled more than yesterday and we have to understand why,” Norris said.
“At the same time, it’s not like I think we did a bad job. I think other people did a pretty bad job yesterday and today they just did the job that they should have done.
“Yesterday, Mercedes were just as quick as us. When you look at the GPS, Ferrari and Red Bull there’s many places they are quicker than us.
“I just think we did a very, very good job yesterday and we did a good job this morning to win the (sprint) race.
“Today is a little reality check. It’s more where we deserve to be and where he should be,
honestly. I think we were all surprised how quick we were yesterday.”
F1 returns in Miami after 5 week break | 04:17
More chaos is set to ensure on race day with wet weather forecast.
“It looks wet! How much and when is still to be defined but I think it will be a wet race,” Leclerc said.
While Piastri joked about building “some oars”.
A slippery track will put the upgraded cars to the tests with Red Bull’s Verstappen finding his confidence after previously blasting changes to the new regulations, describing them as “just a tickle”.
“For me it has been two things. For sure the car has not been great in the last races and I didn’t feel comfortable with the layout of the car,” Verstappen said.
“The upgrades have made me feel comfortable, so I can push more and the upgrades are working. 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.”
Miami GP Qualifying Top 10
1) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
2) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
3) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
4) Lando Norris, McLaren
5) George Russell, Mercedes
6) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
7) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
8) Franco Colapinto, Alpine
9) Isack Hadjar, Red Bull
10) Pierre Gasly, Alpine
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