Miami Qualifying Reaction
Image: Red Bull Content Pool
It’s safe to say we’ve had an exciting Saturday Qualifying this time round at the Miami International Autodrome - a few hairy moments, a red flag and some surprise results.
Sergio Pérez will again start in the first grid slot for Sunday’s race.
Let’s get into the detail of how qualifying unfolded in the Sunshine State:
Q1
The first qualifying session of the day provided quite a few near-misses for the drivers, both with barriers and fellow competitors, with Hamilton finding the wall slightly having to squeeze past the Haas of Kein Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu having to do the same with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and Hulkenberg almost being clipped in the pitlane following the unsafe release of Yuki Tsunoda.
Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of the session, 0.323s quicker than Sainz in P2, with his teammate Pérez only 27 milliseconds behind the Ferrari. Red Bull seem to have kept their momentum and blistering pace for this weekend!
Things had looked better for Mercedes who, as the clock hit 0:00, placed 18th and 19th, however Russell managed to set a lap fast enough for P10. This was quickly bumped down to a P11 by his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who placed himself just outside of the top 5 in P6. Only time will tell whether the Brackley-based team will have a car this weekend that can handle both the winding corners and the long straight of the Miami International Autodrome.
Aston Martin’s Q1 was surprisingly unimpressive, with Alonso ending up P12 and Lance Stroll unable to make it out of Q1, sitting P18. Things would heat up for the Spaniard heading into Q2, however, so not all seemed lost just yet for the mean green team.
Haas had a fantastic first qualifying session, with the Great Dane Kevin Magnussen sitting 5th and Nico ‘Hulkenback’ putting his car 9th in the order. Being the only American team, Haas will want to impress this weekend and it’s looking like they most certainly will.
Most of the drama for Saturday took place in later qualifying sessions, so keep reading!
So, then, the five drivers out in Q1 were:
16th - Lando Norris
17th - Yuki Tsunoda
18th - Lance Stroll
19th - Oscar Piastri
20th - Logan Sargeant
Q2
As the second qualifying session got underway, the sun slowly setting, irony set in as Alonso almost found his front wing in the back of Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas, the German having been in Alonso’s shoes the session prior.
The shock of Q2 came when Mercedes’ struggles continued as Hamilton missed out on Q3 by two tenths of a second, meaning he’ll see the five red lights go out from all the way back in 13th place for the race.
Verstappen once again set the fastest lap of the session, with a rapid 1:26.814, trailing the other Red Bull by half a second. Leclerc was promisingly 0.150s off the pace, however qualifying wouldn’t end in smiles at the Ferrari garage.
Valtteri Bottas impressively put his Alfa Romeo into P7, giving the team the much-needed confidence they’d been looking for. Teammate Zhou Guanyu couldn’t quite equal this, only managing P14 and subsequently being knocked out of Q2.
The Alpha Tauri of Nyck de Vries brought up the rear end of the bottom five - indicating that the team’s car isn’t very well suited to the challenges of F1’s newest raced-at circuit.
Both Alpine drivers had their time in the sun, with Ocon placing 6th and Gasly 8th - much to the delight of fans and the team’s Twitter admin:
The temperature was rising for Q3 as the top 10 drivers pushed hard to gain position - let’s see how it went down.
Eliminated from Q2 was:
11th - Alexander Albon
12th - Nico Hulkenberg
13th - Lewis Hamilton
14th - Zhou Guanyu
15th - Nyck de Vries
Q3
The start of the final session saw defending World Champion Max Verstappen having to abort his lap attempt, fighting the steering as his RB19 squirmed across the curbs in Sector 1. The Dutchman’s frustration came through over team radio as he exclaimed: “F***, I went wide. F***!”
Sergio Pérez used this to his advantage, hooking up a triple-purple lap of 1:26.841, putting him on provisional pole with 8 minutes remaining as the special-liveried blue, pink and turquoise blur sped over the line.
Magnussen thrashed around the track, claiming the 3rd fastest lap, which was to be shortly thereafter knocked down a peg by Carlos Sainz - a slight taste of last year’s sprint race pole position at Interlagos for the Haas driver, no doubt. Kevin will start P4 on Sunday, a mighty result for the team.
Leclerc had a nightmare of a Q3, having a medium-sized lock-up at Turn 17 before his session was ruined completely by losing the rear severely on a curb at Turn 6 and sending himself pirouetting across the aqua run-off and into the barriers. A huge trail of smoke saw the end of the Monegasque’s qualifying and a red flag being waved. Ferrari are most definitely not having the season they want right now.
Charles will start the Grand Prix in P7.
With only a minute and a half remaining as the red flag fell, Race Control determined the session would not continue, giving Sergio Pérez pole position, followed by Alonso in second and Sainz in third, making it a Spanish-speaking top 3 for the race on Sunday.
Verstappen, unable to set a lap time, will start 9th on the grid for the race and the general consensus is that he’ll breeze through the field, but don’t take our word for it - Alonso reckons it’ll be 25 laps before he’s on his tail for the second podium spot!
Final Qualifying Results
With all three sessions complete, how is the grid looking for lights out in Miami? See below:
1 - Sergio Pérez (MEX)
2 - Fernando Alonso (ESP)
3 - Carlos Sainz (ESP)
4 - Kevin Magnussen (DNK)
5 - Pierre Gasly (FRA)
6 - George Russell (GBR)
7 - Charles Leclerc (MCO)
8 - Esteban Ocon (FRA)
9 - Max Verstappen (NED)
10 - Valtteri Bottas (FIN)
11 - Alexander Albon (THA)
12 - Nico Hulkenberg (DEU)
13 - Lewis Hamilton (GBR)
14 - Zhou Guanyu (CHN)
15 - Nyck de Vries (NED)
16 - Lando Norris (GBR)
17 - Yuki Tsunoda (JPN)
18 - Lance Stroll (CAN)
19 - Oscar Piastri (AUS)
20 - Logan Sargeant (USA)
