Antonelli stuns with maiden F1 pole as Doohan left furious

Antonelli will be joined by Oscar Piastri on the front row for Saturday’s 100km Sprint while Jack Doohan will line up 17th.

The Alpine driver was eliminated at the end of the first segment and was left furious with him team as he ran out of time to start a final flying lap.

Gabriel Bortoleto was the first driver to record a lap as the session got underway.

It was a busy start, with all but the two Mercedes drivers on track.

Verstappen was the first of the front runners to set a time, a 1:27.953s that left him 0.5s clear of the pack, headed by Alex Albon.

Lando Norris eclipsed Verstappen’s effort, moving 0.063s faster with Piastri’s maiden effort good enough for third, 0.2s slower than the Red Bull driver.

Strong pace on the medium tyres in practice translated into Sprint Qualifying as Kimi Antonelli completed his first flying lap, shooting to the top of the timesheets, 0.032s quicker than Norris.

The final throes of the segment were also busy, with a stampede to get back out on track.

That caught out Jack Doohan and Yuki Tsunoda with neither able to begin their final flying lap and were summarily eliminated.

Lance Stroll was the first to miss the cut in 16th, one spot ahead of Doohan, then came Tsunoda, Bortoleto, and Oliver Bearman.

Tsunoda appeared to have been delayed by his teammate at Turn 17, the hairpin at the end of the back straight.

That compounded a mistake on his earlier lap, where he’d locked up and run wide at the same corner earlier in the session.

Doohan, meanwhile, was furious with Alpine for the way his final run was orchestrated.

The Australian had been unable to turn straight out of the garage, his path hampered by Pierre Gasly who pulled out of his garage at the same time.

The resultant time lost by having to be pushed back allowed cars ahead of him and delayed his exit to seal his fate.

Norris and Piastri were rapid as SQ2 began, the Australian fastest with a 1:27.354s.

The rapid-fire session saw Ferrari fuel its cars for the duration, with Lewis Hamilton touring the lane after his first flying lap.

Inside the final minute, Antonelli sat third ahead of Verstappen, while in the bottom five were Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, and Liam Lawson, the bottom seven drivers without a time to their name.

Verstappen’s final lap moved him to the top of the timesheet, his effort beaten soon after by Norris while Piastri slotted in third.

As the chequered flag waved, Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Lawson, and Sainz were eliminated, the Williams driver having run off the road after locking up after Turn 11 and aborted the lap.

It was a quiet start to SQ3 with only two cars on track initially; Verstappen and George Russell.

The Mercedes driver mustered a 1:26.791s to hold provisional pole ahead of the Red Bull who’d missed the apex of Turn 8 on his lap.

Russell circled back to the pits, his session done, while Verstappen remained on track for a double cool lap before a final push.

The other eight drivers opted for just a single flying lap in the dying seconds of the session.

Hamilton moved into second fastest with his lap but quickly dropped down the order after a stunning lap from Antonelli who shot to the top of the timesheets.

It proved unbeatable; Piastri only capable of second best ahead of Norris in third.

Verstappen managed fourth with Russell slipping to fifth ahead of Charles Leclerc, Hamilton, Albon, Hadjar, and Alonso rounded out the top 10.

The result is Antonelli’s first pole in F1, albeit in a Sprint, and backs up strong pace throughout both Sprint Qualifying and Free Practice 1 earlier in the day.