Max Verstappen has beaten Charles Leclerc by just over a tenth to take pole position for the sprint at the Miami Grand Prix. The Dutchman took his third sprint pole in a row as the Ferrari driver struggled to get the tyres to work, which appeared to be the theme of the session.
The Dutchman has won both the races in Miami, but he was surprised by his pole as he explained that the car hadn’t felt quick in practice. On Friday he had looked out of sorts but the strong pace of the Red Bull saw his nearest rivals fall away.
Leclerc managed to split the two Red Bull’s as he went a tenth and a quarter faster than Sergio Perez, the challengers for pole never managed to materialise. One of the surprises was Daniel Ricciardo who was fourth six hundredths ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc had missed most of practice after he spun off and hit the wall, bringing out the red flag as he stopped on track.
Speaking after the session, Verstappen explained: “It felt really terrible. Maybe that last session was just incredibly difficult to get the tyres to work. Already in SQ2, I didn’t feel great. SQ3, it just felt quite similar for me. I didn’t really improve on the soft. Somehow we were first. Of course, I happily take it.”
Going into SQ3 McLaren had looked like challenging for the front row Lando Norris had looked like a challenger for the front row having topped SQ2, but the Englishman couldn’t unlock the speed shown earlier in the session. As he lost eight tenths that left him down in ninth, while his teammate Oscar Piastri was sixth six hundredths behind Sainz.
McLaren has a major upgrade on their car, has the full package and Piastri only about half, so this appears to have been a missed opportunity for the Briton. In SQ1, Piastri had complained about Valtteri Bottas blocking him on a flying lap.
The upgraded MCL38 had been the talk of the paddock on Friday morning as McLaren revealed what chief executive Zak Brown admitted is basically a B-spec car, such are the extent of the changes. But the regulations force teams onto the soft tyres which Norris found difficult to switch on in SQ3.
Lance Stroll had a decent session going seventh in a season when he has been under pressure, the Canadian went nearly half a tenth faster than his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso. Norris’s vanishing speed in SQ3 left him four thousandths faster than the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg.
Neither Mercedes made it out of SQ2, George Russell missing out by just over a hundredth as he went nearly three hundredths faster than his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes have looked to have a mixed season and what didn’t help Hamilton was tapping the wall through the penultimate corner.
Mercedes will hope that Friday’s poor performance is a result of failure to optimise their upgrades, as opposed to the parts simply failing to address any of their issues.
That put the seven-time champion eight thousandths ahead of the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, and was also noted for a pit lane infringement. Ocon put himself comfortably ahead of the Haas of Kevin Magnussen while Yuki Tsunoda didn’t set a time in SQ2 leaving him fifteenth.
Pierre Gasly was fastest of those knocked out in SQ1, the Frenchman missing out by nearly three-tenths as he backed out of his final attempt. That put him ahead of both Sauber’s, with Guanyu Zhou nearly a tenth faster than teammate Valtteri Bottas.
The Finn is under investigation for nearly colliding with Piastri at Turn One towards the end of SQ1, with the Sauber driver unaware of the McLaren’s fast approach to the right-hander when on a slow lap while Piastri was on a flying effort.
Logan Sargeant out qualifying Williams teammate Alex Albon by three tenths.
