Kimi Antonelli follows up with another pole position in Miami: "I was very stressed!"

In a single day, Kimi Antonelli experienced a real emotional rollercoaster: starting second in the Sprint, the Italian didn't get off to a good start, missing his launch and exposing what has been his (only?) Achilles' heel since the beginning of the season. After crossing the finish line in fourth position, the rider Mercedes Benz suffered a penalty for exceeding track limits too much, dropping him to 6th place.

So there was undoubtedly a taste of revenge in the 19-year-old's mouth as he threw himself headlong into qualifying for the Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli didn't falter, demonstrating his pace segment after segment before setting a very solid timed lap on his first Q3 attempt. By leaving the competition three-tenths of a second behind, the Bolognese driver put himself in an excellent position to secure his third consecutive pole position.

But all the drivers still had one flying lap to try and chase down the tenths of a second separating the number 12 Mercedes from the rest of the field. Especially since Antonelli had given them a golden opportunity by making a mistake in the very first sector of his final lap, condemning himself to anxiously await the passage of his nine rivals, including... Max Verstappen, last to take the checkered flag and number 1 rival for pole after setting the fastest time in Q2.

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Despite the stress, Antonelli manages to secure pole position.

"I was very stressed, honestly, I was waiting for everyone's turns to finish." Antonelli admits with a smile. "In the end, it was enough and I'm delighted." Max Verstappen missed out on the honors of the protocol by just 0.166 seconds. “It was an incredible day and to finish it in pole position…” savors the championship leader. “The start of the day wasn’t easy with the Sprint, which didn’t go exactly as we would have liked. We recovered well, and it was a good qualifying session. It could have been better with the last lap of Q3, of course, but my first lap was enough, I’m happy with that.”

A two-time winner in China and Japan, Kimi Antonelli could secure a third consecutive victory in Miami. However, he must be wary of the ominous statistics: no driver starting from the front row has ever won the Florida Grand Prix. With rain threatening, the Italian isn't getting carried away. "We will do our best at the start tomorrow; the weekend is a bit more difficult for us, but we will really do our best to maximize the result.", he says.

The answer is expected from 22 p.m. French time on Sunday, May 3, during the Miami Grand Prix, which can be followed live in text on AUTOhebdo.fr.