Kimi Antonelli has joined the ranks of absolute motorsport legends. © APA/afp / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU

Like Schumacher and Senna before them: Antonelli achieves a pole treble.

Kimi Antonelli can now be mentioned in the same breath as Formula 1 legends Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.

03 May 2026

From: dpa/sn

The Mercedes teenager secured his first three career pole positions at consecutive Grand Prix weekends with his pole position in Miami. Senna (65 poles) achieved this feat in 1985, Schumacher (68) in 1994. "It definitely feels good," said championship leader Antonelli about his pole streak.

The 19-year-old Italian has one big goal for the race in Florida: a good start. His still very young Formula 1 career has been plagued by mistakes in the opening meters. This happened in the sprint, when Antonelli quickly dropped from second to fifth place. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff subsequently attributed it to a team error, stating that the clutch needed to be properly calibrated.

“Typical Kimi”

“Hopefully it will work out magically. It would be nice if we didn’t lose any positions, but we’ll do our best,” said Antonelli, whose team is facing a difficult weekend. While the competition has brought major upgrade packages to the USA, Mercedes isn’t planning significant improvements to the car until three weeks from now in Canada.

Toto Wolff is pleased with his teenager in the cockpit. © APA/afp / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU

Wolff found his young star's pole position impressive. "The first lap was truly something special. He was three or more tenths ahead of the next driver," Wolff said. "Spectacular. That secured him pole position." Then, he added, it was "typical Kimi" when he tried to do too much on his next fast lap and messed it up.