Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli secured his third consecutive pole position of the 2026 F1 season at the Miami GP, beating Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc to secure an unlikely top spot considering the team’s form over the rest of the weekend, as he put a marker down with a gap of nearly two tenths to his nearest competitor.
“Pretty stressed”: How a mistake in the final lap nearly cost him pole
But it wasn’t all plain-sailing for the current F1 championship leader, as he had a big lock-up a-to start his final flying lap in Q3, which meant he had to abort the run and hope the drivers behind didn’t improve enough to dethrone him from the top of the times.
Although the first run in Q3 for the 2026 Miami GP was enough for securing pole, Antonelli revealed how he was “pretty stressed” about the drivers behind finding some time, considering their known qualifying prowess in the case of Leclerc and Verstappen:
“Yeah, it was a good lap,” he said of his first run. “Very clean. Put more or less everything together, of course.
“[And] then the last lap, I probably got a bit too excited. And I [braked]way too late. I knew I wasn’t going to make the corner the moment I [braked]. But luckily it was good enough, because, of course, you never know, especially with Max [Verstappen] and Charles [Leclerc], because they’re very good in qualifying.
“So I was pretty stressed on the way in [to the pits], but yeah, happy that we were still able to keep the pole.”
“Hard to say” if there was more pace in the car
Antonelli was adamant that it’s difficult to know if he would’ve found an improvement in his final run anyway, given that the wind was playing such a role that many drivers missed braking points and generally didn’t improve much in their final runs of Q3, as the track grip and conditions just continually changed throughout the 13-minute session:
“I mean, it’s hard to say [if I would have improved], because I didn’t do the lap, so [it’s] difficult.
“But yeah, you never know. I mean, this track today was difficult with the wind, pretty gusty. And it’s not an easy track to put everything together. So I don’t know.”
Antonelli: Mercedes “maximized” battery deployment in 2026 Miami F1 GP qualifying after “issue” on Friday
One of the keys to Mercedes’ unlocked performance for the second part of the weekend at the 2026 F1 Miami GP, according to Antonelli, was a change in the deployment strategy throughout the lap, along with a fix for a “little issue” on the battery that held them back on Friday’s Sprint qualifying session:
“Yesterday I had a little issue on the last lap with the deployment. So definitely today we maximized that more.
“For sure, we’ve been moving the deployment around, just trying to find the best compromise. And for sure, it makes a difference.
“It’s not easy to pick and understand which are the best places, because even in a small straight, sometimes you underestimate how much you can gain by just deploying a bit more.
“So yeah, it’s definitely that has helped. And the team has been doing a tremendous job on that side.”
Getting a good start will be a priority
Antonelli’s third consecutive pole position means he will start from the front of the field in Sunday’s race, but the young Italian is wary that his starts haven’t been up to standard so far, either from a personal standpoint or from Mercedes’ faulty launch software, which he hopes can be put right in tomorrow’s grand prix:
“I mean, it feels great to get pole. [It’s] definitely it’s good to pick up from where we left [off before the break], to get another pole and start on the front row.
“But of course, first of all, I need to get off the line decently,” he admitted. “Because it hasn’t been good so far. So, yeah, let’s see.
“But for sure, it feels good. I’m happy with the performance. And yeah, we’ll try to finish the job tomorrow.“
Antonelli: First experience with 2026 F1 cars in the wet will probably “not be the easiest” in the Miami GP
Antonelli is certain that the weather will certainly play a part in the 2026 F1 Miami GP, as a rain hazard has been declared by the FIA and the race start time has been moved to three hours earlier in order to avoid the worst of the rain.
Notably, it will also be the first time for many of the drivers to experience their new cars in the wet, something which Antonelli believes “probably” will not make for the most fun of experiences out on track, as they try to figure out their machines and work their way around a slippery circuit in fullrace conditions for the first time:
“I mean, it’s definitely going to be tricky, I think, because so many drivers didn’t [drive] it in the wet, didn’t drive the car in the wet.
“And also hearing the feedback, it’s not the easiest car to drive on the wet.
“So I think we’ll see better tomorrow what’s the situation going to be like. But for sure, driving the car for the first time in the wet in the race, probably is not the most fun and easiest opportunity to do so. But we’ll try to be ready for anything.”
