In Miami Gardens, Florida, Max Verstappen of Red Bull secured pole position for the Miami Grand Prix, his third pole this season, by a narrow margin over Lando Norris.
Verstappen`s qualifying time was just 0.065 seconds quicker than Lando Norris, who had won Saturday`s sprint race. Norris`s lap was affected by errors, notably hitting the kerbs hard at Turn 17 and struggling with car balance in the initial high-speed section.
Following qualifying, Verstappen commented on the session, saying: “It`s been a great qualifying, we made a small improvement to the car… and honestly, through Q1, Q2, and Q3, I was improving on every run, trying to push the limits a bit more. Managing the tires over a full lap here is quite tricky.”
He added: “Ultimately, it worked out well, so I`m very pleased to be on pole.”
Max Verstappen secured his second pole position at the Miami Grand Prix.
Norris expressed satisfaction with the advancements made to his car and his performance during the Saturday sessions.
He congratulated Verstappen, adding lightheartedly: “Congrats to Max, especially now that he`s a dad. I was hoping that might slow him down!”
“Max delivered a typical Max lap,” Norris noted, stating he couldn`t find fault with it and was “happy and excited for tomorrow.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes qualified third. He had previously taken pole for the earlier sprint race but couldn`t convert it to a win after losing the lead early and having an incident with Verstappen during a pit stop. He will now aim for his first career podium on Sunday.
Antonelli commented: “This weekend is going well so far. This morning was a bit disappointing, but it was good to recover like this.”
Championship leader Oscar Piastri finished Q3 in fourth place. He couldn`t improve on his Q2 time, which was identical to his teammate Norris`s time up to a thousandth of a second.
George Russell secured fifth for Mercedes, followed by Carlos Sainz in sixth and Alex Albon in seventh. Charles Leclerc was the highest-placed Ferrari driver in eighth.
Esteban Ocon (Alpine) will start ninth, while Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) qualified tenth, 0.699 seconds adrift of his teammate Verstappen`s pole time.
Lewis Hamilton missed out on Q3 for the first time this season, qualifying 12th. His lap was just 0.039 seconds shy of making the top ten, with data suggesting he lost a small but critical amount of time in Turn 2.
Starting from 13th was Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), followed by Jack Doohan (Alpine) in 14th, and Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) in 15th. Lawson reported an issue with battery deployment.
Nico Hulkenberg just missed Q2 by 0.023 seconds and will start 16th, ahead of Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) in 17th. Alonso`s car required rebuilding after a crash in the sprint race.
Pierre Gasly (Alpine) qualified 18th, followed by Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) in 19th, and Ollie Bearman (Haas) in 20th.
