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Championship leader Kimi Antonelli stormed back from a troubled sprint into pole position for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old has continued to lock out Mercedes’ outright qualifying pole so far this season – with Lando Norris breaking its grip on sprint pole on Friday.
It looked as if Mercedes’ dominance was under threat as its rivals’ new packages reduced its advantage, Norris converted that pole into a sprint win, but 19-year-old Antonelli underlined his title credentials by claiming a third pole in a row.
Max Verstappen Burst into life amid a tough start to the season to claim second, with 0.166s Charles Leclerc Norris was fourth ahead of third for Ferrari.
Antonelli won the last two races to sit atop the standings ahead of team-mate and leading title challenger Russell and once again edged his veteran team-mate in the heat around the Hard Rock Stadium.
Russell would start from fifth, nearly four tenths ahead of Antonelli’s pace. Lewis Hamilton And Oscar Piastri.
Reigning champion Norris earlier secured his first win of any kind this season with a comfortable victory in the 19-lap sprint.
Norris crossed the line about four-tenths clear of team-mate Piastre but Antonelli had a tougher time.
Both Antonelli and Russell have struggled with their starts so far this season but Mercedes hoped small changes had improved its journey.
But the Italian was caught out again as he dropped from second to fourth, with Mercedes to blame.
The 19-year-old was accused of “bad wheel-to-wheel” by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc before he crossed track limits too many times and was hit with a five-second penalty — dropping him from fourth to sixth.
Former world champion Jenson Button called it a “stupid mistake” and meant Russell, who moved up to fourth, cut his title lead to seven points.
McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull all brought a major upgrade package to Miami that helped them reduce the advantage Mercedes had enjoyed so far this season – an improvement Russell described as “horrendous”.
– Miami Grand Prix: Max Verstappen happy with ‘more together’ Red Bull
– Miami Grand Prix: Lando Norris hails upgraded McLaren with ‘perfect result’
– F1’s Miami Grand Prix schedule in doubt amid threat of thunderstorms
Team principal Toto Wolff said Mercedes is “out of sync” on the upgrade front and it is expected to make improvements of its own soon in a fierce development race.
Antonelli’s pole was therefore a surprise and could be an important piece of evidence.
“That first lap was really special. He was three or more tenths ahead of the next guy. Spectacular. That made the pole,” Wolff told Sky Sports.
The FIA announced a rain risk ahead of Sunday’s race, with rain forecast at more than 40%.
There is also the threat of a possible thunderstorm, likely to push the race forward from its scheduled 4 pm start time (9 pm BST).
The Italians will hope that Mercedes have solved their problems with a resurgent Verstappen on their tail.
The four-time world champions have suffered a tough start to the season amid bitter dissatisfaction with the sport’s new rules and are ninth in the standings.
But Red Bull’s significant upgrade has reduced its deficit to dominant Mercedes and Verstappen has shown his class to claim a place on the front row.
