F1 – Verstappen beats Norris and Antonelli to Miami pole as Piastri qualifies fourth
Max Verstappen took his third pole of 2025 with a superb final lap of Q3 that saw him beat pre-session favourites McLaren, with Lando Norris second and championship leader Oscar Piastri only fourth behind Mercedes’ teen sensation Kimi Antonelli.
At the start of Q1 Verstappen was one of the first on track and he posted an opening flyer of 1:27.573 to take P1. That time was soon beaten by Piastri who went 0.266s quicker, with Norris’s slotting into P3.
Antonelli then lowered the benchmark to 1:27.077. Verstappen, though, was powering through a purple first sector and after setting personal best times across the rest of the lap, the champion once again jumped to the top of the order with a time of 1:26.870, 0.136 clear of Piastri with Mercedes’ George Russell in third, 0.008s off the Australian. Verstappen headed back to the pits leaving Norris to edge ahead of team-mate Piastri to take P2.
Ruled out of the second session were Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg in P16 followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, the second Aston of Lance Stroll and Haas’ Ollie Bearman exited in 20th place.
Verstappen was first out on track at the start of the second session and the Dutchman posted an opener of 1:26.643 to take an early P1. Once again, his time was eclipsed by the McLarens, however, as Piastri took P1 with a time of 1:26.269 and Norris made his way to second place. Antonelli also managed to find a little over three hundredths over the Red Bull driver to steal third place.
Piastri elected to stay in the pit lane for the final runs and when none of his close rivals delivered a significant improvement, including Verstappen, who was marginally slower on his second run than this first, the Australian held on to top spot. Russell, languishing in 11th after the first run, did make a leap forward, however, and he climbed to P3 ahead of Antonelli, leaving Verstappen in fifth.
There was no place in Q3, however, for Isack Hadjar who went out in P11 ahead of Hamilton, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Alpine’s Jack Doohan and the second Racing Bull of Lawson.
After two sessions in which he’d set the pace only to be bounced out of P1, Verstappen upped the ante at the start of Q3 it. The Dutchman took provisional pole with a time of 1:26.492, just 0.003s ahead of Norris and 0.017s clear of Piastri.
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