Kimi Antonelli takes his third pole in a row as storms threaten to disrupt Miami Grand Prix

MIAMI – Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli powered to his third successive pole position on May 2 with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen joining the Mercedes driver on the front row for what could be a wet and stormy Miami Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc qualified third fastest for Ferrari on a hot and steamy afternoon, with McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris, winner of the earlier sprint race, set to line up in fourth.

Antonelli, 19, is chasing his third grand prix win in a row – and the team’s fourth in four – after triumphs in China and Japan made the Italian the youngest driver to lead the drivers’ standings.

The pole was an immediate and forceful reply to being demoted to sixth in the sprint, the first race this season in any format that Mercedes have not won.

It also put him up with Michael Schumacher and the late great Ayrton Senna as drivers who took their first three career poles in successive races.

“It’s been an amazing day to be on pole again,” he said. “It was a difficult start with the sprint where it didn’t go our way, but super happy with the recovery.

“It was a good quali, got a little bit excited in that last lap in Q3 but the first lap was good enough.”

Antonelli secured provisional pole with a time of 1min 27.798sec, an impressive 0.345sec quicker than Leclerc’s first effort and 0.383sec faster than Verstappen’s.

At the end, the time stayed out of reach of the rest even after the Red Bull star cut the gap to 0.166sec, and the Italian overcooked his final run and ran wide at Turn One in a session also influenced by gusts of wind.

No driver has won in Miami from the front row in four previous editions, and a wet and stormy race on May 3 could throw up all kinds of chaos, but Verstappen – two-time winner at the Hard Rock Stadium – sounded his most upbeat in months.

“I feel more in control of the car again, and then I can push a bit more. Then the upgrades are working. To be on the front row is way better than I expected heading into this weekend,” said the Dutchman.

“(We’ll) see what the weather will do tomorrow. But I’m already very happy with where we are. From here, there’s like light at the end of the tunnel and we can push on and try to close the gap further.”

George Russell, Antonelli’s teammate and closest rival seven points adrift, qualified fifth with Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton sixth.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, last year’s winner in Miami, will start from seventh on the grid at a circuit where overtaking is unlikely to be a major problem, particularly in this era of new rules.

Argentinian Franco Colapinto went eighth fastest for Renault-owned Alpine, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completing the top 10.

Meanwhile, race officials have decided to bring forward the Miami Grand Prix by three hours in an attempt to avoid threatening thunderstorms in the area, F1 said.

The decision was taken after discussions with local organisers and the sport’s governing body FIA after qualifying on May 2.

“This decision has been taken to ensure the least amount of disruption to the race, and to ensure the maximum possible window to complete the grand prix in the best conditions and to prioritise the safety of drivers, fans, teams and staff,” they said in a statement.

A Porsche race and some other supporting activities have also been cancelled as a result.

The drivers have yet to face wet conditions in the new-engine era which started in Australia in March, with the new cars already proving to be a challenge on dry terrain.

Lightning is a particular concern for organisers, who issued race suspension and shelter-in-place procedures for teams. REUTERS