Major Kimi Antonelli qualifying error resulted in agonising wait: 'I was very stressed'

Kimi Antonelli has stated he was “very stressed” that he would lose his grid-leading position in Miami after botching his second qualifying effort.

Antonelli drove a commanding opening lap in Q3 and was over three-tenths of a second clear of the competition.

However, as he aimed to improve even further on his second run, he locked up his tyres at the opening corner and aborted his attempt.

Only Max Verstappen was able to improve his effort to bring himself to within two-tenths of Antonelli, but the Italian's opening lap proved to be enough to secure a third consecutive pole position.

“It's been an amazing day to be on pole again,” Antonelli said. 

“It was obviously a difficult start of the day with the sprint where it didn't go our way, but super happy with the recovery.

“It was a good quali. Obviously, I got a little bit too excited in that last lap of Q3, but the first lap was good enough and I'm really happy with that.

“I was very stressed, I was just waiting for everyone to finish their laps. In the end, it was good enough, and I'm really happy with that.”

On Sunday, Antonelli will be hoping to avoid a repeat of his start during the sprint race in which he dropped several positions from the front row.

The 19-year-old enters the race looking for a third consecutive grand prix win.

“Hopefully the magic one [start] will happen tomorrow,” he said. “It would be nice not to lose any positions.

“We'll do our best. This week has been a little bit more difficult for us.

“We're keeping all this together and we're maximising the performance, so I'm very happy with that.”