New dad Verstappen beats Norris to Miami pole

MIAMI :New dad Max Verstappen showed he could be even faster as a father after storming to pole position at the Miami Formula One Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris on Saturday.

Days after the Red Bull driver and partner Kelly Piquet welcomed daughter Lily, his first child, the four-times champion set a blistering lap of one minute 26.204 seconds around the Hard Rock Stadium.

The pole was an immediate and impressively firm response to being demoted to last in the wet earlier sprint race following a 10 second penalty for an unsafe release in the pitlane and collision with Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.

"Clearly it didn't make me slower as well, being a dad, so that's the positive," said Verstappen.

"We can throw that out of the window as well for people mentioning it."

Norris, winner in Miami last year after Verstappen also secured pole for that race, was 0.065 slower and possibly taking comfort in the knowledge that no driver has won from pole at the track since the race debuted in 2022.

Antonelli, the 18-year-old who became the youngest ever pole sitter in the sprint, qualified third fastest with McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri completing the second row in fourth.

Norris had earlier won the sprint, trimming second-placed Australian Piastri's advantage to nine points, and now has a great chance to make further inroads.

"Congrats to Max, especially being a dad now. I was hoping it would slow him down," joked the Briton.

"Max did a Max lap once again and I can't fault him. I'm happy and excited for tomorrow."

PODIUM LIKE A WIN

George Russell qualified fifth for Mercedes with Williams' Carlos Sainz sixth and teammate Alex Albon seventh to make up for the disappointment of being demoted from the points in the sprint.

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