Kimi Antonelli’s emotional pole position for the Sprint race in Miami wasn’t just a career highlight, it marked a turning point as revealed by his father, Marco.
The 18-year-old Mercedes prodigy stunned the paddock by taking his first Formula 1 pole position during Sprint Qualifying for the 2025 Miami Grand Prix.
On a track he had never raced before and without a run on soft tyres in practice, the Italian delivered a flawless lap. And watching trackside was his father, Marco Antonelli — a man who knows what it means to grow up in racing.
Marco, a former driver himself and the founder of Antonelli Motorsport, watched proudly as his son became the first Italian to claim pole in a Formula 1 Sprint race. But the moment also carried emotional weight, given Kimi’s rocky F1 introduction in 2024.
“What do I call him? I call him ‘mouse’,” Marco told Sky Sport F1, reflecting on the milestone. “It’s the first building block. It’s a new circuit for him and he hadn’t even tried the soft tyres.
“I didn’t think he could do it. He was brilliant — there’s really not much more to say.”
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Moving on from Monza
Kimi’s breakthrough in Miami comes less than a year after a difficult Free Practice 1 outing at Monza in 2024, where he crashed at the Parabolica early in the session. That moment, Marco revealed, left a lasting impression on his son.
“We’ve moved past the Monza crash — it was something that stayed with him and definitely affected him in the early races this season,” father Marco Antonelli said after Kimi clinched pole for the Miami Sprint.
“It was a punishment he paid for dearly. But bit by bit, we’ve moved beyond it, and I think from now on we’ll see a calmer Kimi, more conscious of his own potential.”
Antonelli’s lap in Miami wasn’t just fast, it was composed, smooth, and executed under pressure. According to his father, it’s a sign that Kimi is learning to perform at the highest level.
“He’s an F1 driver now, and if he wants to succeed, he has to do everything quickly and do it at the highest level,” Marco added.
“It’s not like a few years ago where if you were a second off, you’d still start fourth or fifth. Now, if you’re a second off, you start 20th. You have to be sharp — there’s no margin for error.
“He’s doing well, he’s learning to think things through, and I hope he keeps doing that because it could really make the difference in the future.”
The Miami performance not only handed Antonelli his first major result in Formula 1, it also signalled that the pressure of expectation and past mistakes no longer weigh him down.
