Undoubtedly the story of the day in Miami, rookie Antonelli has claimed not only his maiden pole position in Formula 1 in just his sixth race weekend, but has also become the youngest to claim that top spot in history.

He was sent out for a first, but also final, run in SQ3, as was the case for the majority of the drivers, but hooking it all together saw him 0.045s faster than the championship leader Oscar Piastri once all drivers were over the line. Just one tenth separated the top three, in what was yet another incredibly close session.

Antonelli credited finding consistency for him being able to take the step up with his final lap, saying he was “feeling good in the car” and so was “able to improve lap by lap”.

“That lap came altogether, and I’m super super happy with that and now we will enjoy this moment a little bit more but as well I want to focus on tomorrow because I really want to try and repeat myself.”

Mercedes opted to split the strategies over their drivers for the final part of the session. George Russell was one of just two drivers, alongside Verstappen, who posted a lap at the beginning of the 8-minute SQ3 session. Unlike Verstappen however, Russell didn’t have a second attempt and watched the final stages from the pit lane having done all he could.

Antonelli on the other hand went out for just one lap and posted his time later in the session, which seems to have been the best approach as it allowed him to maximise the track evolution which has been high so far this weekend.

With a new set of softs on, Antonelli set a lap of 1:26.482s, which is incidentally also the quickest lap time posted at the Miami International Autodrome since it joined the calendar in 2022.

While the session didn’t work out for Russell on a day where Mercedes had the pace in all sessions, he called Antonelli’s lap “impressive” and wished him “massive congrats”.

“We went early as ultimately I didn’t have the confidence, and in case of a yellow or red. All day I haven’t really felt it, disappointed not to be further up the grid but really happy for Kimi.”

Toto Wolff was elated post-session, but remarked to Sky Sports that the session itself wasn’t what mattered to him:

“It’s about the trajectory,” he said. “It’s not whether it’s a pole in only the sprint race or a pole tomorrow and the future. He’s done it. He’s been quickest.”

Exactly as Toto Wolff says, Antonelli taking a step like this so early on has gone a long way to proving that his gamble on the young driver was correct, with this achievement also solidifying the trajectory he has looked to be on from the very beginning this year.