GP Miami F1: Seven consecutive poles for Max Verstappen

Six this year, plus one that ‘carried over’ from last year. There are seven pole positions achieved by Max Verstappen (Red Bull RB20/Honda) who achieved it again in Miami in a session in which he left Charles Leclerc (Ferrari SF-24) 0.141s behind with Carlos Sainz (Ferrari SF-24) third at 0.214.

After less good positions on the grid in Japan and China, Ferrari is once again at the front.

Sergio Pérez (Red Bull RB20/Honda) was fourth, close to the Ferraris, but falling behind them again, which hadn’t happened for two GPs. The two McLarens followed, with Lando Norris (McLaren MCL38/Mercedes) managing in extremis to beat Oscar Piastri (McLaren MCL38/Mercedes), in his last attempt.

The Mercedes once again had their two cars in Q3, which has not always happened this year, with George Russell (Mercedes F1 W15) increasing the score to 5-1 for Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes F1 W15) who returned to stay behind your teammate.

After finishing ninth in China, Nico Hülkenberg (Haas VF-24/Ferrari) returns to the top 10 and Q3, with Yuki Tsunoda (RB VCARB 01/Honda) redeeming himself from his poor qualifying in China.

McLaren was unable to show what it ‘promised’ in free practice, neither in the Sprint, nor in the two qualifications, let’s see tomorrow in the race, with the two Ferraris positioning themselves well to push Verstappen, who tomorrow will try to do exactly what Same as you did today in the Sprint, go forward and quickly get more than a second’s head start to avoid exposing yourself to DRS.

Let’s see what Ferrari can do, and if they can’t chase Verstappen they have three very competitive cars behind them that could make tomorrow’s race interesting behind the leader…

Session Film

Daniel Ricciardo eliminated in Q1

Daniel Ricciardo was unable to match his performance in qualifying for the Sprint and was eliminated in the first segment of the session that organizes the grid for the Miami Grand Prix, reaching only the 18th time. Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu were also eliminated.

After the AMR24 suffered damage on the opening lap of the Sprint, Lance Stroll’s car continued to receive care from the Aston Martin team of mechanics before Q1.

Logan Sargeant left the pitlane and completed only the outgoing lap, returning to the Williams pit at the start of the first segment of the qualifying session, while the Ferrari drivers moved to the front of the timesheet, clocking 1:28.159s. by Carlos Sainz, with a margin of 0.024s over Charles Leclerc.

Still on the first fast lap of the session, Max Verstappen moved to the top of the timesheets with 1:28.023s, leaving Sainz at 0.136s. But the Ferrari driver responded to the Dutchman, who won today’s afternoon Sprint, returning the Spaniard to the front, with a time of 1:27.937s.

Lando Norris also completed a good fast lap, but the best time belonged to the other Red Bull driver. Sergio Pérez ran in 1:27.772s before the last pit stops.

For the last attempts, Logan Sargeant, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu and Alexander Albon were under pressure, as they were the drivers occupying the Q1 elimination positions.

Max Verstappen jumped to the front of the timesheets (1:27.689s), while Daniel Ricciardo was unable to beat Logan Sargeant’s time in his last attempt, being eliminated, as was the North American Williams driver. They were accompanied by Valtteri Bottas, eliminated by 0.010s, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu.

Alonso eliminated and the big surprise in Q2

Fernando Alonso will miss Q3 in Miami for the first time, after being eliminated in the intermediate segment of the session that organizes the grid for tomorrow’s race, reaching only 15th place on the timesheets. Ahead of the Spanish Aston Martin driver were his teammate, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, as well as Alexander Albon.

Contrary to what happened in Q1, Max Verstappen was one of the first to record a time, as both Red Bulls ventured on used soft tires. However, it would end up being Charles Leclerc, with a good lap, to jump to the front of the timesheets, with a time of 1:27.533s, followed by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris

During his first flying lap, Alexander Albon went ahead at the hairpin, complaining about the degradation of the soft tires on the Florida circuit. Accompanying the Thai driver in the elimination zone were Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.

In the drivers’ last attempt, no one ran faster than Leclerc, but Lewis Hamilton jumped to second place, 0.164s behind the Monegasque who will be his teammate in 2025, but the time was beaten by Max Verstappen, who maintained a margin of 0.033s for the Ferrari driver.

Eliminated in the second segment of qualifying was Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly ahead of his teammate Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon. Fernando Alonso was the big surprise with his elimination in Q2, after a mistake in turn 16, losing a lot of time in that area of ​​the North American track.