Kimi Antonelli, surprise poleman in Miami: “My last lap was great!”

This is how we sweep away the doubts of the last few recalcitrant skeptics who refused to see that the kid is indeed ready for the Formula 1Kimi Antonelli gave a masterful slap to the rest of the grid by snatching a pole position which once again seemed reserved for the McLaren or to the young dad Max Verstappen.

Neither the Batavian, nor the two leaders of the championship, Oscar piastri et Lando Norris, were unable to contain the fury of the Bologna native, unleashed on a track where he had never set his wheels before the free practice session preceding qualifying.

From the weekend's only hour of free practice, Antonelli looked comfortable, setting competitive laps consistently within the same timeframe as his teammate and the McLarens, before dropping back when his rivals switched to the soft tyres. He hadn't yet run on the red tyre since the start of the weekend, and his first flying lap on it was the one that gave him his first Formula 1 pole position.

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While this one won't appear in the statistics, as it only concerns the sprint race grid, it nevertheless speaks volumes about the performance of a boy with incredible talent. His joy after his engineer, Peter Bonnington, announced his pole position was that of an 18-year-old kid, happy and proud of himself, who has just laid the foundation stone of a career that promises to be brilliant.

"It was a really intense session. I felt good from the practice session," says Antonelli, smiling as he gets off his Mercedes. "My last lap was great, I managed to put everything together and everything came together very nicely. Saturday will be very nice to start on the front row, it's new for me. It will be a very different feeling and I'm looking forward to the sprint race to see how we can perform in the race, but also in qualifying for the Grand Prix."

The Italian becomes the youngest driver to take pole in the history of F1, even if Sebastian Vettel (21 years old at Monza in 2008) will remain the record holder for earliest real pole positions. A year after Lando Norris's victory, the Miami circuit has confirmed its status as fertile ground for "firsts." Antonelli now knows what he has to do: win his first sprint race on Saturday and follow that up by taking a real pole position this time. After all, he's more than capable of it.

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