MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The only two winners of the Formula One Miami Grand Prix will start on the front row for the fourth edition of the race.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – the reigning four-time F1 champion who won the 2022 and 2023 Miami races – won pole position in qualifying on May 3 for the May 4 race at the Miami International Autodrome around Hard Rock Stadium.
Verstappen and partner Kelly Piquet welcomed their new daughter, Lily, before he arrived in Miami for the race weekend. And he’s shown no signs of slowing down despite fatherhood – a quirky myth in F1 circles that drivers tend to lose some speed, or edge, once becoming a dad.
“Clearly, it doesn’t make me slower being a dad – so we can throw that out the window with people mentioning it,” Verstappen said during a post-qualifying press conference. “I’m getting pictures and Facetimes here and there. Now, there’s one more member in the family.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris, who won the 2024 Miami race and the Sprint race earlier in the day before qualifying, will start the 2025 race in second position.
“I’m very happy with the end result, but it’s a shame I can’t sit on pole. That’s the frustrating bit,” Norris said after qualifying.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old newcomer to F1, will start the Grand Prix in third place. The youngster was shy about predicting where he could place in the Sunday race after an already eventful weekend – where he became the youngest driver to qualify for pole in any race for the Sprint, but finished 10th.
“I don’t really want to say because it goes directly wrong,” Antonelli said. “But I’m going to just try to have a good start and set a good pace with Max and Lando. And we’ll see the weather.”
For the first time in the Miami Grand Prix’s history, rain affected the racing during the Sprint before qualifying.
Norris won the Sprint race thanks to a safety car – the same fashion he won the Grand Prix last year. It was deployed after two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) was bumped by Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) with about four laps to go in the Sprint.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc aquaplaned and crashed into the wall between Turns 9 and 10 running south of the stadium about an hour before the Sprint began and could not participate in the race.
Leclerc will start the Grand Prix in eighth place, while his new Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton will start in 12th despite placing third in the Sprint.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, the leader in the F1 Drivers’ standings, will start fourth in the Grand Prix. He’s won three of the five Grand Prix already this season (China, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia), and finished behind Norris during the Sprint race.
Mercedes’ George Russell will start in fifth. Williams Racing teammates Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon will start sixth and seventh, respectively. Haas driver Esteban Ocon will start in P9, and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda rounds out the top 10.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Formula One Miami Grand Prix: Max Verstappen wins pole for 2025 race
