Formula 1 Rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli Secures Third Position in Miami Grand Prix Qualifying

After a disappointing seventh place finish in the sprint race earlier today, Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli demonstrated resilience and skill to secure third position in qualifying for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.

A Tumultuous Sprint Race Leads to Disappointment

Despite starting on pole position for the sprint race, a first-lap tussle with Oscar Piastri of McLaren saw Antonelli tumble down the order. Post-race penalties finalized the rankings, leaving Antonelli with just two points.

The Italian racer’s disappointing sprint result was followed by an impressive performance in qualifying for Sunday’s race, securing third position and splitting the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Piastri.

Antonelli Reflects on His Performance

This weekend is going well so far,” said Antonelli. “It was a bit disappointing this morning, but it was good to bounce back this way.” He admitted to struggling during qualifying and not having a clean run like the previous day, but was pleased with his final lap.

Antonelli’s best lap in Q3 was a 1m26.271s, just two thousandths of a second behind Norris. Both were outclassed by Max Verstappen, who clinched a thrilling pole position with a lap time of 1m26.204s.

Antonelli Looks Ahead to the Race

The gaps are super tight, and definitely, if you can gain just a few hundredths, you can make up so many places,” said Antonelli. “It’s really about putting everything together, and so far this weekend I’m doing that. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race.

For the first time this season, Antonelli outqualified his team-mate George Russell, who finished fifth.

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