Max Verstappen sealed pole position for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix ahead of Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli.
A scruffy run through Turn 17 for Norris on his final lap meant he was forced to settle for a spot on the front row, while Antonelli continued his strong one-lap form to secure P3 on the grid, getting within a tenth of Verstappen’s 1:26.204. Turn 17 twice caught out Lewis Hamilton as he fell at Q2.
2025 Miami Grand Prix: Max Verstappen on pole
After the drama of torrential rain in the build-up to the sprint, the drivers were greeted by a fully dry track as qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix got underway.
But, with showers still hovering around the circuit, it was little surprise to see a long queue of cars form in the pit lane waiting for that green light.
Gabriel Bortoleto clocked a 1:28.674 in the Sauber on Pirelli soft tyres to get the ball rolling, but the pace quickly ramped up. Verstappen bettering that time by a second, as he looked to swiftly move on from a frustrating sprint, that the first time he had finished any race outside the points since the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix!
Used softs were largely the order of the day for the first runs, as Piastri hit the front, 0.26s up on Verstappen, while Alex Albon received his latest invite to see the stewards post-qualifying. Given a five-second penalty for driving too slowly behind the Safety Car in the sprint, this summons related to an unsafe release in front of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar at the start of Q1.
With five minutes to go in Q1, Verstappen was back out in front on a 1:26.870, while Oliver Bearman, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon needed a better lap to escape the Q1 elimination zone.
Lewis Hamilton was on the brink after a lock-up down at Turn 17, which also meant he had to use up another set of softs in the pursuit of Q2.
Verstappen topped Q1, Norris escaping unscathed after a brush with the wall on his way to P2, as Bearman, Stroll, Gasly, Alonso and Hulkenberg bowed out.
Onto Q2 and after the opening runs, Piastri was sitting pretty in P1 with a 1:26.269, putting him just over two-tenths up on Norris in a McLaren one-two, with Antonelli a tenth further back in P3.
Antonelli’s teammate George Russell was reporting “no grip” and “no confidence” in the Mercedes W16 as he sat P11, knowing a better lap was needed to make the shootout for pole.
Esteban Ocon, Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson and Hadjar also needed to find time to make Q3.
Russell rose comfortably to the challenge, but for Hadjar, Hamilton, Bortoleto, Doohan and Lawson, it was qualifying over. A further lock-up at Turn 17 did Hamilton no favours.
McLaren looked like they potentially had the pole battle under control, but as Q3 arrived, could anyone emerge to spoil the party? How Antonelli would have loved to make it a pair of Miami poles.
But, if anyone was going to do it, then Verstappen looked like the one. With the first runs done, it was the Dutchman on provisional pole, but with just 0.017s covering the top three of Verstappen, Norris and Piastri, this one was not over.
The Red Bull RB21 was not behaving into Turn 1 for Verstappen, but despite that rear slide, he still set a purple first sector, upping the pressure on McLaren.
He put three-tenths between himself and the Papaya team, and within a tenth for Norris was the best McLaren could do, Norris taking far too much kerb in Turn 17, “terrible”, as he put it. Max Verstappen takes pole in Miami.
Antonelli muscled his way into P3 in another stellar one-lap effort in Miami, leaving championship leader Piastri P4 on the grid.
2025 F1 Miami Grand Prix – Starting grid
1 Max Verstappen NED Oracle Red Bull Racing
2 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team
3 Kimi Antonelli ITA Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
4 Oscar Piastri AUS McLaren F1 Team
5 George Russell GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
6 Carlos Sainz ESP Atlassian Williams Racing
7 Alex Albon THA Atlassian Williams Racing
8 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari HP
9 Esteban Ocon FRA MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
10 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Oracle Red Bull Racing
11 Isack Hadjar FRA Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
12 Lewis Hamilton GBR Scuderia Ferrari HP
13 Gabriel Bortoleto BRA Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
14 Jack Doohan AUS BWT Alpine F1 Team
15 Liam Lawson NZL Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
16 Nico Hulkenberg GER Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
17 Fernando Alonso ESP Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
18 Pierre Gasly FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team
19 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
20 Oliver Bearman GBR MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
