Miami Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying: Max Verstappen surprised to be on pole position

Contrary to China, rain did not come to disrupt operations during the Sprint qualifying as it was 29°C in the air and 47°C on the track.

Q1 was marked by a big slide for Charles Leclerc on his first attempt while the Monegasque had already struggled during the only free practice session of the weekend. However, this was the only scare for the Ferrari driver and he had no problem qualifying, with the eighth fastest time.

On the other hand, Oscar Piastri almost had a big accident with Valtteri Bottas at the end of the straight line because the Finn was on a slow lap while the Australian was coming up at full speed behind him. The Sauber driver almost ended up spinning into the McLaren driver.

In the end, the eliminated in Q1 were Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Sargeant, and Albon (who had his last and best time deleted for cutting the chicane). For the first time since their collaboration began last year, the American is ahead of his teammate at the end of a qualifying session.

During Q2, Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda waited until the last four minutes to go out for the first time in the session. This was not a problem for the Dutchman, who had to settle for fourth place. It was Lando Norris, with the updates brought by McLaren, who set the fastest time of this session.

On the other hand, the Japanese driver found himself relegated to 15th position, the last of the session. His lap was cancelled for track limits but even under regular circumstances, he would have finished in the same place. The Racing Bull driver was once again outperformed by his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, as was the case in China. It’s the first time this season that the Australian finds himself in the final part of a qualifying session.

The eliminated from Q2 were Yuki Tsunoda, the two Mercedes drivers, Esteban Ocon, and Kevin Magnussen. The gaps were extremely tight as there were only 56 milliseconds between Lance Stroll’s ninth place and Esteban Ocon’s thirteenth place!

The situation could be even more complicated for Lewis Hamilton as his mechanics touched his car without wearing helmets, which is mandatory.

For Q3, everyone waited until the last four minutes to rush out on track. With only one attempt, it was once again Max Verstappen who managed to set the fastest time, despite some oversteer, while Charles Leclerc was able to squeeze in between the two Red Bulls. On the other hand, McLaren clearly lost performance with the soft tires as Oscar Piastri finished sixth and Lando Norris ninth.

Daniel Ricciardo has achieved a very good performance, with a fourth place on tomorrow morning’s grid.

Results of Sprint Qualifying at Miami Grand Prix

From our special correspondent in Miami.