Andrea Kimi Antonelli made history in Miami. The Mercedes driver incredibly secured pole position for the Sprint Race at the Miami Grand Prix, the sixth round of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship.
The Italian driver made history by becoming the first Italian to claim pole position in a Formula 1 Sprint Race. It was an extraordinary lap, not due to any one particular section, but thanks to the overall performance. In the end, he beat everyone—including the impressive McLarens of Oscar Piastri (by 45 thousandths) and Lando Norris (+55 thousandths). Antonelli’s pole becomes even more significant when considering that George Russell, his teammate, ended up fifth—behind Max Verstappen—and more than three tenths off.
While Italy celebrates Kimi Antonelli’s feat, there is little to cheer about for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc finished sixth, three tenths behind, while his Maranello teammate Lewis Hamilton was seventh, over half a second down on the car he drove until the end of 2024.
Rounding out the top ten are Alexander Albon’s Williams in eighth, Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls in an excellent ninth, and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin in tenth.
Just outside the top ten was a strong performance from Nico Hulkenberg, who managed to extract the most from a Sauber team that, without him, would be struggling at the bottom of the field. Carlos Sainz had a much more difficult session, making a mistake on his decisive lap in SQ2, which will force him to start from 15th place. Meanwhile, Albon easily advanced to SQ3 and secured a place in the top ten.
A shock came in SQ1 with the elimination of Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver had saved his final attempt for the last moment, but was caught out by traffic from his teammate Max Verstappen and took the checkered flag before starting his flying lap. As a result, he will start the Sprint Race from third-last on the grid.
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