Antonelli secured his pole with his first run in final qualifying, and a mistake on his final run meant he faced an anxious wait to see if anyone could improve his time.
But only Verstappen, who was third fastest on the first runs, managed to go faster on a second attempt in the 33C Miami heat.
The 19-year-old, who was demoted from fourth to sixth in the sprint by a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, said: “It has been an amazing day to be on pole again.
“It was a difficult start to the day with the sprint but super-happy with the recovery. I got a little bit excited on the final lap of Q3 but the first lap was good enough. I was very stressed just waiting for everyone to finish their laps.”
Red Bull, like McLaren and Ferrari, brought a major upgrade to their car for this weekend, and while McLaren’s worked well early on, refinements from Red Bull and Mercedes left the sprint winners trailing.
Verstappen, who has been considering his future in Formula 1, said “there’s light at the end of the tunnel” after his team’s improvements.
“To be on the front row after being over a second behind is really incredible. It’s massive.
“It is everything because before nothing really worked, I felt like a total passenger. It could understeer, it could snap on me.
“We are still not where we want to be in terms of understanding everything, but the car feels a lot more together and I can finally drive the way I want to drive.”
Verstappen’s team-mate Isack Hadjar, who had had a promising start to his Red Bull career, was left trailing, 0.825secs adrift of the Dutchman in ninth. He said he had been struggling with a lack of power all weekend.
