Following on from a frustrating result that was out of his control in the Miami Sprint, Kimi Antonelli has switched his full focus to capitalising on his third-place starting position on the Grand Prix grid.
The Mercedes teenager claimed his maiden pole position for the Sprint on Friday, but an early tussle with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri saw him lose the lead and drop to P4 after driving wide at Turn 1 in Saturday’s dramatic dash.
Things went from bad to worse as his first attempt at a pit stop was jeopardised by an unsafe release from Red Bull that sent Max Verstappen into Antonelli’s path, forcing the Italian to drive around the track again and return to the pits.
But while he crossed the line outside of the points, a series of time penalties for drivers further up the field saw him promoted back to P7 to salvage two points.
Antonelli’s Qualifying lap time was just 0.002s shy of Norris’
Antonelli then came agonisingly close to claiming another pole position in Qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix as he missed out by just 0.067s to Verstappen – Lando Norris was also quicker by the slimmest of margins, leaving the rookie to take P3.
“It was a good way to bounce back,” the Italian said after Qualifying. “I struggled a little bit during the session – the track was quite a lot different compared to yesterday. Obviously with the rain, it washed out most of the rubber so a different feeling in the car and it took a little bit to adapt but I’m happy with the last lap.
READ MORE: Verstappen surges to pole position ahead of Norris and Antonelli in Miami GP Qualifying
“Honestly, I was a little bit greedy going into Turn 1 and had a small lock-up, but still managed to have a strong second half of the lap. Now [I’m] looking forward to tomorrow.
“McLaren are really fast. I think they will have a bit of a pace advantage but hopefully we can fight with Max and the McLarens eventually. I’ll try to be ready for anything.”
Russell: ‘I’ll take P5 because I felt a long way from where we should be’
The Miami outing has seen Antonelli edge out his team mate George Russell for the first time since he joined Mercedes, with the Briton struggling to feel comfortable in the car throughout the weekend.
Russell explained: “I don’t know what’s been going on this weekend – in FP1 I was feeling really good with the car, then every lap in [Sprint] Qualifying yesterday, Qualifying today, I just haven’t felt it.
HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the Qualifying action from Miami as Verstappen secures spectacular pole position
“It’s not a nice place to be, so I’ll definitely take P5 because I felt a long way from where we should be.
“I hope things will be different in the race to be honest. I’m sure they will be. P5 is a good place to start. We saw today that things can change very quickly – a long race, weather around, hopefully a bit of a mix-up.”
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