2026 Miami Grand Prix qualifying results

Kimi Antonelli claimed pole position for the Miami Grand Prix with a 1:27.798 set on his first run in Q3. It was his third consecutive grand prix pole, a record start to a career matched only by Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

He did not need a second attempt. Antonelli locked up into Turn 1 on his final lap and abandoned it, but nobody could beat his earlier time.

2026 Miami Grand Prix qualifying results

Hadjar was disqualified after post-session scrutineering found his floor protruded 2mm beyond the permitted reference volume on both sides. Red Bull accepted the finding and will not appeal. He starts from the pit lane. Gasly inherits ninth on the grid.

How qualifying unfolded

Four different teams occupy the first four grid slots: Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren. That was not how the weekend had been heading.

McLaren dominated the sprint hours earlier, with Norris taking pole and leading a 1-2 finish nearly four seconds clear of the field. In grand prix qualifying, both McLarens dropped back. Norris finished fourth after a battery deployment issue in Q2 and less energy available on his final Q3 run. Piastri scraped through Q1 in 16th and could only manage seventh.

Norris was measured about it afterwards. He said his rivals had underperformed in sprint qualifying and simply did a better job in the evening session.

The biggest mover was Verstappen. Red Bull brought a significant upgrade package to Miami, including a new floor and a version of Ferrari's rotating rear wing concept. The result was a front row start, his best qualifying of 2026 by some distance. Before Miami, his best had been eighth in Japan.

Verstappen said the car felt completely different to the opening rounds.

– Before, nothing really worked. I felt like a total passenger in the car. It could understeer, it could snap on me. We're still not where we want to be in terms of understanding everything, but most of it.

Audi had a weekend to forget. Bortoleto was disqualified from the sprint for an engine intake air pressure breach, then sat in the garage while his car was stripped at the start of qualifying. He managed one lap in Q1 and finished more than five seconds off the pace. Hulkenberg at least made it to Q2 after his own sprint was ended by a fire on the out-lap.

What to watch in the race

The race has been brought forward three hours to a 1:00 PM local start due to a forecast of severe thunderstorms in the afternoon. If the rain arrives, these will be the first properly wet conditions the 2026 cars have raced in.

Antonelli's starts remain a concern for Mercedes. He dropped from second to fourth at the start of the sprint, and was later penalised for a track limits violation that dropped him to sixth. Toto Wolff has said the start issue is not the driver's fault but is not a quick fix either.

Verstappen starts on the front row for the first time in 2026. His sprint race pace in clean air looked competitive, and the upgraded Red Bull is a genuine factor for the first time this season.

The open question is whether McLaren's sprint form or their qualifying form is the better guide. They were untouchable over 19 laps on Saturday morning. By the evening, both cars were half a second or more off pole.