Kimi Antonelli storms to Miami Grand Prix pole as Mercedes rebounds after sprint race stumble

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Kimi Antonelli helped Mercedes rebound from a disappointing showing in the Saturday sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix by winning the pole in qualifying just a few hours later.

It’s the third consecutive pole for the current Formula One championship leader, who blocked Max Verstappen from taking the top starting spot at Miami International Autodrome for a third straight year.

Mercedes has dominated the competition this season, with George Russell winning from the pole in the season-opening race, then Antonelli winning from the pole in the two grands prix that followed. F1 then had a five-week break when a pair of races in the Middle East were canceled because of the war in Iran.

All teams made upgrades to their cars during the break, but after Russell was fourth and Antonelli sixth in Saturday’s sprint race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff acknowledged “we are a little out of sync with our upgrades compared to other teams.”

Antonelli recovered by qualifying and turned a lap at 1 minute, 28.653 seconds to beat Verstappen of Red Bull for the pole.

“Obviously a difficult start of t...