Kimi Antonelli will start second for Saturday’s 19-lap Sprint in Miami after Mercedes fought through a difficult Friday at the fourth round of the season. George Russell will line up sixth after both drivers struggled to get fully on top of the W17 during Sprint Qualifying.
The result came after the Miami Grand Prix weekend resumed following an unexpected four-week hiatus, with teams handed an extra 30 minutes of practice before Sprint Qualifying. Antonelli’s day was complicated from the start when a battery issue kept him from completing any Soft tyre running in FP1, while Russell also lost time after an issue interrupted his early running and left him dealing with tyre overheating and a tricky car balance.
Antonelli said Mercedes had expected trouble because the field had tightened again. “We knew coming into this weekend that we would be in for a battle,” he said, adding that he believed the team had done a strong job to recover from a difficult day and secure P2 for the Sprint. Russell was blunter about the way Friday unfolded. “Whilst today was Sprint Qualifying and therefore not the most critical session of the weekend, we are disappointed with how our Friday turned out,” he said. “We need to work hard overnight to understand why that was.”
Mercedes said both drivers were not completely at one with the W17 on Friday and described the car as a handful. It said one issue cut short Russell’s early practice running, while another ended Antonelli’s session early and cost him laps on the Soft tyre. The team also said its rivals had brought more performance to the event than Mercedes had, with McLaren and Ferrari making a particularly striking jump in pace. That left Mercedes chasing answers even with the extra practice time designed to help teams get a handle on recent regulation tweaks.
Antonelli’s P2 gave Mercedes one bright spot from a day that otherwise underlined how narrow the margins have become, while Russell’s P6 left the team with more work to do before the Sprint. If the pace picture from Friday holds, Mercedes will need overnight progress to keep the Italian rookie in the fight at the front and stop the weekend from slipping further away.
