Kimi Antonelli sprung the surprise of the season by taking pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix, the youngest F1 driver to do so. The Italian teenager, six rounds into his rookie campaign as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton, was born five years after the double world champion Fernando Alonso became the youngest F1 driver to take a pole position.
At 18 years and 250 days, Antonelli bettered Sebastian Vettel’s previous record of the youngest pole-sitter in F1, which the latter did as a 21-year-old, and is the third youngest F1 driver ever, behind Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll.