Formula 1: Miami Grand Prix Free Practice One and Sprint Qualifying Recap

Getty Images

Kimi Antonelli takes his maiden pole position for the Miami Grand Prix Sprint race. He becomes the youngest Formula 1 driver to secure pole position.

Oscar Piastri will line up second, followed by Lando Norris, Max Verstappen then George Russell in fifth.

Earlier in the day Oscar Piastri topped the timesheet for Free Practice One.

Reuters

Free Practice One

Top 10 Results
1) Oscar Piastri        1m 27.128
2) Charles Leclerc     +0.356
3) Max Verstappen    +0.430
4) Carlos Sainz          +0.550
5) Alex Albon             +0.827
6) Isack Hadjar          +0.840
7) George Russell     +0.930
8) Yuki Tsunoda         +1.027
9) Kimi Antonelli         +1.099
10) Fernando Alonso  +1.115

Drivers just had one hour to get to grips with their cars and the circuit, with only one free practice session over the Sprint weekend.

There was a flurry of cars immediately on track at 12:30pm local time when the session started, with most on either medium or hard compound tyres.

Early in the session, Lando Norris reported that tools had been left in his cockpit, and Yuki Tsunoda complained that his seat height felt quite high.

George Russell topped the timesheet early in the session with a lap time of 1m 28.058s on medium tyres. When drivers switched to the soft tyre compound Russell's lap time still stood above Antonelli, Sainz and both McLaren drivers.

Piastri topped the timesheet as the chequered flag approached with a 1m 27.128s, in front of Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz and Albon.

During the last five minutes of the session, Bearman lost control of his car, exiting Turn 11 and spinning around into the Turn 12 wall, bringing out the red flag. Many drivers lost soft compound tyre runs, and drivers ended up out of order.

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Sprint Qualifying

SQ1

Out in SQ1
16) Lance Stroll
17) Jack Doohan
18) Yuki Tsunoda
19) Gabriel Bortoleto
20) Ollie Bearman

The drivers headed out onto the the track on the medium compound tyres for the SQ1 12-minute session.

With eight minutes to go Verstappen had topped the timesheet with a 1m 27.953 lap time, followed by Albon, Sainz, Gasly and Hulkenberg.

Verstappen dropped down the timesheet as Norris and Antonelli set faster lap times.

Charles Leclerc and Gabriel Bortoleto both touched the wall, but neither picked up any damage.

With three minutes to go all the drivers headed back out on track. Doohan, Tsunoda, Bortoleto, Bearman and Hadjar were in the bottom five risk zone.

Stroll, Doohan, Tsunoda, Bortoleto and Bearman were all knocked out in SQ1, with Russell topping the timesheet, followed by Antonelli and Albon.

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

SQ2

Out in SQ2
11) Nico Hulkenberg
12) Esteban Ocon
13) Pierre Gasly
14) Liam Lawson
15) Carlos Sainz

Drivers headed out once again on the medium tyre compound, with Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, Verstappen and Ablon all heading out to the track at the start of the session. The rest of the drivers stayed in their garages for the first lap running.

With three minutes to go, the rest of the drivers started to come out on track.

Albon has a slide as Gasly clips the wall, with drivers struggling with the narrow track and street circuit characteristics.

Norris topped the timesheets, as Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz all out in SQ2 after Carlos ran wide on his one and only lap during the session.

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

SQ3

Sprint Race Starting Top 10
1) Kimi Antonelli      1m 26.482
2) Oscar Piastri           +0.045
3) Lando Norris           +0.100
4) Max Verstappen     +0.255
5) George Russell       +0.309
6) Charles Leclerc       +0.326
7) Lewis Hamilton       +0.548
8) Alex Albon               +0.711
9) Isack Hadjar            +1.061
10) Fernando Alonso   +1.308

During the first part of the session Max Verstappen and George Russell were the only two drivers on track on the soft compound tyres. Both setting early times in the session, with Russell setting the fastest lap time so far with a 1m 26.791.

All the other drivers stayed in the pits and headed out with three minutes to go on a one lap shootout.

Kimi Antonelli takes his maiden pole position for the Miami Grand Prix Sprint Race, followed by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

​He becomes the youngest ever Formula 1 pole sitter for any type of Formula 1 race.

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who claims his maiden pole position in Formula 1 for Saturday's sprint race: "It was a very intense qualifying, I felt really good since this morning and I felt confident going into qualifying. The last lap, I basically put everything together and it was nice that it came very nicely. Really happy to get the first pole.

​"Tomorrow is going to be nice to start on the front row; it's going to be a bit of a different feeling but I really cannot wait for tomorrow to see how we can do in the sprint and the qualifying as well."

Getty Images

Written by Anny Wooldridge