The conditions were hot for these qualifying for the sprint race since it was 28 ° C in the air and 48 ° C on the track, with a big sun that shone in order to honor the nickname of Sunshine State of Florida.
Oliver Bearman was able to participate in the session since his mechanics were able to repair the damage caused by his leaving the track during the free test session. The Frenchman Isack Hadjar saw his first attempt canceled for having crossed the limits of the track while Charles Leclerc and Gabriel Bortoleto hit the wall at the exit of turn 16 but without consequences for the two pilots.
On the other hand, the big surprise was that Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated behind the wheel of his Red Bull, with only the 18th time. The gap with his teammate Max Verstappen was abyssal, at more than 1.3 seconds. For his defense, the Japanese was unable to make his second attempt because he crossed the starting line too late. Jack Doohan experienced the same mishap. The Australian did not fail to share his deep dissatisfaction in the radio.
Note that Max Verstappen seemed to have embarrassed both Lando Norris and launched Stroll during his deceleration turn but he was not worried by the commissioners of the FIA.
The eliminated from the SQ1: Stroll, doohan, tsunoda, borto et bearman.
During the second period, only half of the plateau set off for two attempts since Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson did only one. Carlos Sainz was not even to finish the slightest turn since he made a straight during his sole attempt. Conversely, his teammate Alex Albon was able to climb in SQ3 with the eighth time, just ahead of Fernando Alonso and Isack Hadjar. The Frenchman managed to get ahead of Nico Hülkenberg for only eight hundredths.
The eliminated from the SQ2: Hülkenberg, Ocon, Gasly, Lawson et Sainz
During the last phase, Max Verstappen and George Russell were the only ones to go out from the green light. The other pilots came out three minutes from the checkered flag, which necessarily created a traffic jam at the exit of the lane of the stands and on the track. Isack Hadjar, last in the queue, went on the line with a second of margin on the chronometer!
In the end, the feeling is that Kimi Antonelli was able to sign the best time of the session, in front of the two Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris pilots. The young Italian had already been at the forefront during the first two parts of the qualification. We can therefore note that his change of state of mind mentioned yesterday paid off immediately. His teammate, George Russell, could not do better than 5th, three tenths from his teammate. This makes Kimi Antonelli the youngest poleman in the history of F1, even if it will not be approved since it is only for the Sprint race.
