New father Max Verstappen wins pole in Miami, his third through six F1 races this season

Max Verstappen celebrated the birth of his first child with a pole-winning run at the Miami Grand Prix.

The four-time defending Formula 1 champion edged Lando Norris of McLaren by .065 seconds to take the top starting spot for Sunday’s race. It was a rebound for Verstappen, who was penalized earlier Saturday in the sprint race and finished 17th.

“It’s been a great qualifying, it worked out well and I’m very happy to be on pole,” Verstappen said of his 43rd career pole. It is his third pole through six races this season and second consecutive.

It wasn’t the result Norris hoped for from F1’s newest father. There’s a myth that having children can slow drivers because they suddenly become a bit more conservative. Verstappen and his partner, Kelly Piquet, announced the birth of a baby girl on Friday.

“Nod to Max, especially being a dad now,” Norris said. “I was hoping it was going to slow him down a little bit, but it clearly didn’t.”

Verstappen agreed.

“Clearly it didn’t make me slower, being a dad. We can throw that out the window for people mentioning it,” he said. And although he didn’t reveal when Lily was born, he indicated the reason he skipped Thursday activities in Miami was to “spend a few days at home to make sure everything is OK.”

He also said the myth that parenthood can change a driver’s style is ridiculous.

“I don’t really listen to these kinds of silly things, you know,” Verstappen said. “I just do my thing. There are enough racing drivers in the past that they became world champion after having kids. I don’t even know where that (myth) comes from.”

Norris is both the defending race winner — his Miami victory last year was the first of his F1 career and ended Verstappen’s two-year winning streak at Hard Rock Stadium — and the winner of Saturday’s sprint race.

Kimi Antonelli, who at 18 years old became F1’s youngest pole winner in history when he started first in Saturday’s sprint race, qualified third for Mercedes. It is the first time he qualified higher than teammate George Russell, who was fifth behind current F1 points leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren.

Williams qualified sixth and seventh with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alex Albon, while Charles Leclerc rebounded from crashing before the sprint race started to qualify eighth. He did not compete in the sprint race as his team worked to repair his Ferrari in time for qualifying.

Esteban Ocon qualified ninth for Haas and Yuki Tsunoda was 10th to give Red Bull both its cars in points-paying position.

Lewis Hamilton failed to carry momentum from his third-place finish in the sprint race held four hours before qualifying as the Ferrari driver was eliminated in the second round. His 12th-place effort was his lowest qualifying run since joining his new team.

“I don’t feel in my heart that I’m — I mean, as I said, I’m trying everything, we’re trying everything, I mean like the smallest, the smallest (margin) of time today I was out,” Hamilton said. “It doesn’t make a huge difference, but the fact is, you know, we are trying.”

It rained early Saturday — hard enough to delay the sprint race — and the forecast calls for more weather issues on Sunday. The uncertainty on if it will be a wet or dry race has made it impossible for drivers to predict how the event will unfold.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing