Kimi Antonelli Reveals Qualifying Relief After Miami Sprint Disaster: “Super Happy With the Recovery”

The Sprint was a mess. The Grand Prix pole lap was not. Lando Norris grabbed the Sprint qualifying pole in Miami, and the Sprint race itself went sideways for Kimi Antonelli from almost the first corner. Oscar Piastri challenged Antonelli into Turn 1 at the start, sending the Mercedes driver wide and dropping him to fourth.A penalty followed, and by the end of the afternoon Antonelli was classified sixth, a result that cost him ground at the top of the championship standings. Early Saturday hurt.

Saturday evening, apparently, was a different matter. Antonelli put together the lap when it counted in grand prix qualifying, banking pole position for Sunday’s race and making it look significantly less stressful than it was.

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

The Lap Was Good Enough – And He Knows It

“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.”

Mercedes appeared to find something between the Sprint and the Grand Prix sessions, with the Silver Arrows pair looking considerably stronger than their rivals in qualifying.

The gap was real. The first run was enough. The second one didn’t need to be.

Antonelli had already taken wins in China and Japan in 2026 , so the championship position entering Miami was strong. The Sprint trimmed that buffer to Russell, which makes the turnaround in qualifying more pointed than it might otherwise appear. He had something to recover and he recovered it.

On Sunday’s race and the challenge of holding grid position from the front: “Hopefully a magic one happens tomorrow. It would be nice to not lose any positions but we will do our best.” He knows the start is where Miami tends to bite, he found that out the hard way on Saturday morning. “This weekend has been more difficult for us but we are keeping it together and maximising the performance, so I’m happy with that.”

Antonelli is 19 years old and keeping it together in Miami. The starts worry him more than anything else right now, and given Saturday, that seems like a reasonable thing to worry about.