Pole Position and a Baby Bottle: Verstappen Blazes to Miami Pole Days After Becoming a Dad

TDT | Manama

Email: hussainm@newsofbahrain.com

Just days after welcoming his first child into the world, Max Verstappen welcomed pole position at the Miami Grand Prix — a performance that proved fatherhood hasn’t slowed him down one bit.

The Red Bull ace clocked a sensational 1:26.204 at the Miami International Autodrome on Saturday, edging out McLaren’s Lando Norris by just 0.065 seconds to secure his third pole in six races this season, and his second consecutive in Miami.

“Clearly it didn’t make me slower being a dad,” Verstappen joked after the session. “So we can throw that out the window for people mentioning it.”

The new father, who became a parent to daughter Lily with partner Kelly Piquet earlier this week, delivered a sharp response to a rough sprint session, where he was demoted to last after a 10-second penalty and a pitlane collision.

Norris — last year’s Miami GP winner — will line up alongside Verstappen on the front row once again, hoping history repeats itself. “Congrats to Max, especially being a dad now. I was hoping it would slow him down,” Norris quipped. “But Max did a Max lap again.”

Behind them, 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli impressed by qualifying third, while McLaren’s current championship leader Oscar Piastri took fourth. Mercedes’ George Russell starts fifth, and Williams’ Carlos Sainz sixth, with teammate Alex Albon close behind.

Further down the grid, Lewis Hamilton — buoyed by a podium in the sprint — could manage only 12th in qualifying for Ferrari. “We’re struggling big time,” the seven-time world champion admitted. “But we’ll keep trying.”

Despite Verstappen’s dominance, he cautioned about Red Bull’s limitations: “This is normally not one of our strongest tracks. We’ve been struggling with straight-line speed, and in the low-speed corners it’s not gripping how I want. The race is a different story.

Still, the Dutchman’s flying lap underlined his single-lap brilliance and made him the first driver to take multiple poles in Miami since the Grand Prix debuted in 2022. And with a newborn cheering from afar, Verstappen has fresh motivation to stay on top.

Meanwhile, behind the front-runners:

• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start eighth after crashing before the sprint.
  
  

• Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.
  
  

• Jack Doohan outqualified his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly for the first time, grabbing 14th.
  
  

• Haas rookie Ollie Bearman starts last, while Aston Martin’s struggles continued with Fernando Alonso (17th) and Lance Stroll (19th) both outside the top 15.
  
  

As the grid lines up for Sunday’s race, all eyes will be on Verstappen — not just to see if he can convert pole into victory, but whether fatherhood has added yet another gear to the reigning champ’s already blistering form.