In the Miami F1 Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying session, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated with a stunning lap time of 1 minute 27.641 seconds, securing pole position. Close behind was Charles Leclerc from Ferrari, just 0.108 seconds adrift in second place. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez also put in a strong performance to claim third.
For Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu, despite his best efforts, limitations with his car’s performance saw him qualify in 17th position. His teammate Valtteri Bottas, despite showing promise at times, was penalized for blocking Piastri during the sprint qualifying and will start at the back of the grid in 18th.
As the season’s second sprint qualifying began, drivers took to the track, ready for intense competition. In Q1, Verstappen and Perez of Red Bull claimed first and third places respectively, with McLaren’s Lando Norris sandwiched between them in second.
After the fierce battles in Q1, McLaren’s duo secured the top two positions on the grid, while Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Schumacher, and Albon were unfortunately eliminated. This round suggested significant troubles for the Alfa Romeo F1 Team in this particular race.
Entering Q2, McLaren continued to showcase its strength. Norris topped the leaderboard with a time of 1 minute 27.597 in the first flying lap, followed by Perez from Red Bull and Leclerc from Ferrari. However, Verstappen from Red Bull did not make it out of the pit lane in time for this phase.
In the final lap of Q2, all drivers pushed hard to improve their times, but ultimately Russell, Hamilton, Ocon, Magnussen, and Tsunoda failed to advance to the next round.
Learning from the quick track evolution in the previous phases, all ten drivers in Q3 waited until the last moment to exit the pit lane for their final push. Ultimately, Verstappen delivered an outstanding performance, snatching pole with a time of 1 minute 27.641 right at the end. While the improvement from Q2 was marginal, other drivers’ mistakes ensured Verstappen claimed pole for the first sprint qualifying of the season.