Antonelli: F1 Miami GP ‘not going to be easy’

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli completed the top three for the F1 2025 Miami GP Sprint Race, starting from the same position. After an action-packed sprint Antonelli “struggled a bit” during Qualifying.

“A bit too greedy in Turn 1”

Kimi Antonelli said, during his Parc fermé interview, that his weekend had been going “well so far.” He called the morning session “a bit disappointing.” Despite this, he felt it was “good to bounce back this way.” Regarding the 2025 F1 Miami GP qualifying, he explained that he “didn’t have such a clean run like I had yesterday.”

On his final lap, he admitted to being “a bit too greedy in Turn 1,” but pointed out that “the rest of the lap was quite good.” Summing up his performance, he added, “I’m happy with it.”

“This weekend is going well so far. Was a bit disappointing this morning, but it was good to bounce back this way and yeah, I struggled a little bit during the quali. I didn’t have such a clean run like I had yesterday. But yeah, that last lap was quite good. I was a bit too greedy in Turn 1 starting the lap, but the rest of the lap was quite good, so I’m happy with it.”

Antonelli hopes for a good race during the F1 2025 Miami GP

Antonelli recognised the challenge of splitting the McLarens. He pointed out that “the gaps are super tight,” and even “just few hundredths” could make a big difference in position.

According to him, success came down to “putting everything together.” With the main race of the F1 2025 Miami GP still ahead, he remained optimistic, saying, “hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race.”

Antonelli saw clear progress in his performance and comfort with the car. He described each weekend as a step forward.

“Every weekend is learning and experience and more confidence with the car as well.” Building on that, he shared that he felt “really, really happy” with how he was now “able to play a lot more with the car” and explore its limits.

“The gaps are super tight and definitely, you know, if you can gain just few hundredths, you can make up so many places. So it’s really about putting everything together. And so far this weekend, I’m doing that and yeah, hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race.”

“Definitely. I mean, every weekend is learning and experience and more confidence with the car as well.

So really, really happy with how every weekend I’m more able to play a lot more with the car and trying to explore the limit as well.

Antontelli also spoke of his feelings heading into Sunday’s GP: “So far this weekend I felt really good in the car“. “So that’s definitely a positive. And hopefully tomorrow we can do a good race.”

Antonelli doesn’t reveal his expectations for the Miami GP

Antonelli kept his expectations for the 2025 Miami GP close to his chest.

“I don’t really want to say because it always goes terribly wrong. So I’m just going try to have a good start and then try to set a good pace and stay with Max and Lando.”

Acknowledging the challenge ahead, he mentioned the possible thunderstorms during the race.

“It’s not going to be easy of course, but we’ll see, first of all, how’s the weather, because there are some thunderstorms probably, so that might not be really nice. But yeah, let’s just see how the weather is going to be and then we’ll try to do our best with what we have.“

“Definitely also in FP1 we did quite a long run, so we were able to collect good data on the dry and hopefully we can have a good pace in the race.“

Week-long break helped Antonelli ahead of the Miami GP

Antonelli wasn’t sure if his strong pace was track-specific. In FP1, he “felt good” and was “able to push the car more to the limit.” He linked this to “experience and confidence.”

“Well, I don’t know. I did FP1 and I felt good and I was able to push the car more to the limit. I think that is down a lot to also experience and confidence.“

The week-long break after a triple-header “helped a lot.” It gave him time to “gather all the information.” and to extract more performance from the car.

“I think also having a week break after a triple-header was really helpful as well for myself to gather all the information.”

“So definitely a lot of experience, also understanding how to extract more out of the tyre during the whole lap—something I haven’t been doing well during the season. There’s still room for improvement, but yeah, I feel better and better in the car every weekend.“

“So hopefully after this weekend, we’re going to European tracks, tracks that I know well, and hopefully I can maintain the same pace or even go faster.“

Antonelli expects “a different story” for the race during the 2025 Miami GP

Antonelli called the start of the Sprint race “very on the limit,” reflecting on what he saw as a poor start.

“Well, I mean it was very on the limit, to be honest. My second phase on the start was not good. I broke traction, so that allowed Oscar to come alongside.”

“Then obviously I started turning because the corner was there, and probably we were both on the limit on braking and eventually we touched and then I went wide and lost many places.”

“But yeah, definitely tomorrow it’s going to be a bit of a different story because I’m starting second row. Definitely a lot learned from that start.”