Williams driver Alex Albon raised eyebrows by questioning how the Mercedes W16 was “legal” at the Miami Grand Prix.

That came in the form of a message over team radio during Miami sprint qualifying as he followed the Mercedes of George Russell, while Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli made history by putting his W16 on pole.

Alex Albon on Mercedes: ‘Don’t know how that Mercedes is legal’

At just 18 years of age, F1 2025 rookie Kimi Antonelli became the youngest polesitter in F1 history when his time of a 1:26.482 bagged him pole for the Miami sprint, for which he will have Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri in the McLaren for company on the front row.

But, it was the Mercedes which caught the attention of Williams racer Alex Albon, after he had spent time behind Antonelli’s team-mate George Russell, who put the sister W16 fifth on the grid. Albon meanwhile will start from P8.

“I don’t know how that Merc is legal,” Albon said over the Williams team radio.

With no further explanation, Albon’s comment left the door open for theories over what he had seen on that Mercedes to make such a comment.

But, as for his own sprint qualifying, Albon explained that P8 actually came in below his expectations.

“Maybe a little bit disappointed in Q3,” he admitted after the session. “I thought my lap felt pretty good, but we were a bit further away than I would have liked, so maybe just need to understand it a bit.

“I felt like in many ways, the car was a bit better in FP1 than it was in qualifying, and we struggled to get the tyres to work.

“The good thing is, this is not the main one, and we can try and get it a bit better for tomorrow.

“But saying that, we’re still best of the rest, so I can’t complain too much.”

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Asked if Williams can fight for points this weekend, Albon confirmed: “Yes, we can. I think that’s our target.”

Antonelli meanwhile heads into the Miami sprint looking to open his victory account in Formula 1 with Mercedes.

And asked for his reaction to that maiden pole, the 18-year-old Italian replied: “I’m feeling over the moon.

“You know, I did not expect it, but I was feeling good in the car. I was able to improve lap by lap and find that consistency. And yeah, that lap came all together and I’m super, super happy with that.

“And yeah, now we will enjoy this moment a little bit more, but as well, I want to focus on tomorrow, because I really want to try and repeat myself.

“We did quite a long run in FP1 to try and gather as many information as possible. Of course, we don’t really know the pace of the others, but I guess we will see tomorrow during the race.

“And then about the qualifying, I mean, the track is going to keep evolving, so it’s going to be important to be on top of it and try to repeat ourselves.”

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