F1 Miami GP 2025 Sprint Qualifying: Reaction and highlights from Florida

Follow all the action as Formula 1 hits the Miami International Autodrome for Sprint Qualifying at the Miami GP

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Hello and welcome to this Total Motorsport live blog for Sprint Qualifying at the F1 2025 Miami GP from the Miami International Autodrome as teams and drivers gear up for the first Formula 1 race of the season in the USA, which is also an F1 Sprint weekend.

Oscar Piastri heads into the Miami weekend as championship leader with new father Max Verstappen hot on his heels, as well as Lando Norris who will be hoping for a repeat of his heroics around the Hard Rock Stadium. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton is hoping Ferrari match their performance at the first F1 Sprint of the season in China where the seven-time champion emerged victorious.

The Australian was fastest in FP1 earlier on Friday, though the session was brought to an early end after Oliver Bearman put his Haas into the barrier bringing out the red flag, meaning some drivers including Norris were unable to do a push lap on softs.

Total-Motorsport.com’s F1 2025 Miami GP live updates for Sprint Qualifying will offer fans unparalleled insight into team strategies, reliability concerns, and potential frontrunners. So stay tuned with us as Sprint Qualifying at the F1 2025 Miami GP unfolds live from Florida, USA.

F1 Miami GP 2025 Sprint Qualifying LIVE: Latest Updates


Your Sprint Qualifying results

It was another bad day for Yuki Tsunoda as he couldn’t get a fast lap in during SQ1 and got dumped out, whilst a nasty lock up stopped Carlos Sainz getting into SQ3 when he may have expected to based on the previous pace shown.

The name of the day is Kimi Antonelli, who got his first-ever pole position and it was not even a major shock given he was mixing it with the McLaren’s, George Russell and Max Verstappen throughout the day. Below you can find the full grid for the Sprint race which gets underway at 18:00 CEST on Saturday.

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SQ3 results

  1. Kimi Antonelli
  2. Oscar Piastri
  3. Lando Norris
  4. Max Verstappen
  5. George Russell
  6. Charles Leclerc
  7. Lewis Hamilton
  8. Alexander Albon
  9. Isack Hadjar
  10. Fernando Alonso

Antonelli on pole for the Sprint!

A big moment for Kimi Antonelli as he gets his first F1 pole position, albeit for a Sprint race. He has been in the picture throughout each session and he is now the youngest pole sitter in any F1 format in history, taking the record from Sebastian Vettel.

Chequered Flag in SQ3

Verstappen does go quicker and goes P1, but then Antonelli takes it off him! Norris only goes P2, which Piastri then takes from him. Leclerc goes P6. Antonelli is on pole!

4 minutes to go

Only Verstappen and Russell went out for the first run. Verstappen put in a 1:27.070 but Russell has then gone quicker with a 1:26.791. That was an incredible lap and Verstappen may not get to go quicker as he doesn’t have another fresh set of softs.

7 minutes to go

We’re underway for SQ3 with ten drivers fighting for sprint pole and there is not much of an indication as to who it will be. Verstappen and the two Mercedes look fast, along with the McLaren’s, whilst the Ferrari’s are still in the picture.

Chequered Flag in SQ2

Carlos Sainz is out in this session, and he is joined by Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson.

Norris was fastest, with Verstappen and Piastri behind him. Hamilton was in big trouble for a while but eventually got up to P6.

1 minute to go

Gasly has had a heavy hit on the exit of Turn 16 but he’s still going. Verstappen goes fastest, Sainz needs to find a lap here.

4 minutes to go

The two McLaren’s have now gone quickest, with Piastri leading from Norris. There’s just +0.183 between them.

6 minutes to go

Verstappen puts his first time in and it’s not as fast as Russell’s time in the first session. Antonelli has since gone quickest of all, he looks fast here.

SQ2 gets underway shortly

Russell and Antonelli were P1 and P2 for Mercedes in that first session, with Alex Albon just behind them.

There was drama at Alpine and Doohan gave the team a piece of his mind after he was eliminated. He was not happy with the way the team released the two cars and he missed the chance to start his lap.

Eliminated in SQ1

Wow, it seems that Verstappen got in Tsunoda’s way on the penultimate corner when the Japanese driver was heading to the line to start his flying lap. He had to hesitate and didn’t have the margin. The following drivers are out:

16. Lance Stroll
17. Jack Doohan
18. Yuki Tsunoda
19. Gabriel Bortoleto
20. Oliver Bearman

Chequered Flag in SQ1

Yuki Tsunoda and Oliver Bearman both failed to make it to the line before the flag and they are out. Stroll got a lap in but he has since been dumped into the bottom five and is out.

Russell goes quickest overall.

3 minutes to go

There’s a big queue at the end of the pit lane, we’re heading out for the final runs. Doohan, Tsunoda, Bortoleto, Bearman and Hadjar in the drop zone right now.

4 minutes to go

Kimi Antonelli is now the fastest man on track, after Lando Norris had gone faster than Verstappen. Charles Leclerc touched the wall coming out of Turn 16, as so many have already today. He sits down in P7 and may have lost some time.

7 minutes to go

Max Verstappen has put in an impressive 1:27.953 on the medium tyre and that could even see him through. Alonso is up in P5 right now but a lot could change soon.

11 minutes to go

We’re underway in SQ1 and the cars are making their way onto the track. As mentioned, plenty of drivers are a bit in the dark as to how they will do in this session so there could be surprises.

Jack Doohan has told on Liam Lawson for an unsafe release in the pit lane.

Competitive action in Miami

We’ll shortly have cars on track for sprint qualifying, with Free Practice 1 not giving us too much of a clue as to who has got the pace. That session was cut short thanks to a crash from Oliver Bearman with a few minutes to go. Some people didn’t get the chance for a flying lap on the soft tyres so this could be experimental.

Where to Watch 2025 Miami GP Sprint Qualifying?

For viewers in the United States, 2025 Miami GP Sprint Qualifying will be shown on ESPNews, with streaming coverage via ESPN+. 

In the UK, all sessions, including 2025 Miami GP Sprint Qualifying are available on Sky Sports F1. And fans in Australia can catch all the action on Fox Sports 506, Kayo Sports, and Foxtel.

What time is Sprint Qualifying at the Miami GP?

Sprint Qualifying for the 2025 Miami GP begins at 4:30pm local time on Friday in Florida. That means a late start for F1 fans in the UK, where Sprint Qualifying begins at 9:30pm on Friday evening. 

Over in the USA, the 2025 Miami GP Sprint Qualifying session from Florida begins at 4:30pm ET on Friday afternoon, which means a mid-afternoon 1:30pm PT start for those on the West Coast.

Euan Burns
Euan Burns
Euan is an experienced sports writer and editor who has covered an array of topics for websites such as MARCA, OnSi, 90min, The Guardian, The Geopolitics and more. He has also guested on BBC Television, Al Jazeera, BBC Radio and multiple podcasts to lend expert knowledge. Having graduated with a first in Journalism from Liverpool John Moores University, he has written about Formula 1 for Total Motorsport since the start of 2025.

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