Valtteri Bottas drops 3-word message to Kimi Antonelli for securing pole position in the F1 Miami GP sprint

Valtteri Bottas shared a three-word message for Kimi Antonelli after the Mercedes driver claimed the pole for the 2025 Miami GP Sprint. Bottas, a former Mercedes driver, hailed the young driver from his X account.

Antonelli pulled off a brilliant final flying lap to set a time of 1:26.482 on the clock at the Miami International Autodrome. He was 0.045 seconds faster than Piastri, and as a result, claimed his first ever pole in an F1 event.

Antonelli's pole lit up the Mercedes garage, as Toto Wolff (team principal), Peter Bonnington (Antonelli's race engineer), and the entire Mercedes crew shared joyous reactions. Following his pole, the Mercedes F1 team from their official X account shared an appreciation post on the microblogging site.

Uploading a picture of Kimi Antonelli, it wrote:

"YESSS KIMI, WHAT A LAP!!! 👏👏 SPRINT POLE IN MIAMI.

Bottas, a former Mercedes driver and the current reserve driver for the Silver Arrows, quote-tweeted the post, and shared his thoughts on Antonelli. He wrote:

"Nice work mate."

Here's the post by Valtteri Bottas on X:

Expand Tweet

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen qualified in P3 and P4, while Mercedes' George Russell, and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualified in P5 and P6. Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon, Isack Hadjar, and Fernando Alonso completed the first 10 starting positions.

Kimi Antonelli shared his thoughts after claiming Miami GP Sprint pole

Following his brilliant qualifying performance in Miami at the 2025 Miami GP Sprint pole, Kimi Antonelli let his feelings known. Speaking in the post-qualifying interview, here's what the Mercedes star said:

Sprint Pole qualifier Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team receives his Pirelli Sprint Pole award - Source: Getty

"Was a very intense Qualifying," Antonelli said. "I felt really good since this morning and I felt good going into Qualifying. I put everything together, so really happy to get the first pole. Tomorrow will be nice to start on the front row, will be a bit of a different feeling."

Kimi Antonelli arrived in Mercedes under full-time obligation as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton left the Silver Arrows at the end of 2024 and moved to Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc.

Currently, Antonelli is in P6 of the Drivers' Championship with 38 points after five races and a sprint. If he can manage to hold on to his pole advantage, and claim the victory, he would be able to close his gap to P5 in the standings.

About the author

Sabyasachi Biswas is a passionate motorsport journalist for Sportskeeda, with a Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism. He has over eight years of experience in the field and has over 10000 published articles on the internet.

As a dedicated follower of motorsport, Sabyasachi watches events closely, ensuring his reports are thorough and supported by reputable sources. He is inspired by Max Verstappen’s fearless attitude and dreams of attending the Indian GP if it returns to the calendar. An ardent F1 fan over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel and is now following Verstappen's dominant journey on the track.

Apart from F1, he is a big-time NASCAR and football (also soccer) fan. Sabyasachi supports Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports and Spanish club, Real Madrid.

He was a sub-junior level footballer and won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak by nature, Sabyasachi likes to try different cuisines and learn about new cultures. When away from his keyboard, he enjoys soccer, geopolitics, and playing with Khushi & Ubbu - his adorable beagles.

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Edited by Tushar Bahl