Lawson qualifies 14th for Miami sprint, Antonelli wins maiden pole

Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson qualified 14th for tomorrow's sprint race in Miami, while 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli became the youngest pole-winner of any Formula 1 event in history.

Lawson managed to put his car into Q2 once again today, but could not find the pace to advance into the top 10.

Speaking after qualifying, Lawson said he was frustrated by the "very messy session".

"Quite diffrent to practice one to be honest. I think we didn't expect it to be so diffrent."

Lawson was 11th fastest in the first practice session of the weekend.

"It's a shame, I think the car wasn't in a bad place this morning, but we just fought the balance a lot more."

Kimi Antonelli became the youngest pole-winner of any Formula 1 event in history when the 18-year-old Mercedes driver won the top starting spot for the sprint race.

Antonelli is in his first season in F1, where Mercedes hired him to replace seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes has great faith the Italian can deliver, and he did in qualifying for the second sprint race of the season.

“I am feeling over the moon, I did not expect this,” Antonelli said.

He will start tomorrow's sprint race alongside current F1 points leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren, who lost the pole by .045 seconds to Antonelli. It's the first time since 2009 an Italian driver has won any pole in F1.

“It was a very intense qualifying,” Antonelli said. “I felt very since this morning and I felt very confident going into qualifying. Really happy to get the first pole. It's going to be nice to start on the front row and see how we can do in the sprint."

Lando Norris, second in the standings, qualified third for McLaren and was followed by Max Verstappen, who arrived in Miami in time for practice after skipping media activities as he welcomed his first child with partner Kelly Piquet.

George Russell, the lead driver at Mercedes, qualified fifth and was followed by Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Hamilton. Alex Albon of Williams was eighth and followed by Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.

Additional reporting by Associated Press