Max Verstappen has once again achieved the unthinkable in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix. He will start tomorrow’s race in pole position, beating Lando Norris by just three thousandths of a second, with Antonelli in third and Oscar Piastri in fourth in the other McLaren.
Max Verstappen beats the McLarens again in Miami GP qualifying
Behind the top three, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who took pole position on Friday for the sprint race, was unable to go beyond fourth place with a lap that left him just over two tenths behind, although well ahead of Alex Albon and George Russell, who were more than six tenths off the top.
The drivers returned to the track with three minutes left on the clock for their final qualifying laps, and Verstappen improved his time despite making a small mistake at the first corner of the circuit. Norris also improved his time, but not enough to beat Verstappen, as the Briton was 55 thousandths of a second off pole position, already in the hands of Verstappen, while Antonelli completed another great qualifying session by setting a good time to jump to fourth place, just two thousandths of a second behind Norris.
Piastri, meanwhile, had to settle for fourth place after improving by just a few hundredths of a second, ending his worst qualifying session of the season on the first weekend as the championship leader.
Hours after the chaotic Sprint, the qualifying session for Sunday’s long race took place in dry conditions at the same venue. On used tires, Piastri quickly took the lead (1:27.307) and was then bettered by Antonelli (1:27.077), with Sainz 0.021 behind in a context of rapid tire changes.
With 5:25 to go in Q1, Verstappen topped the timesheets with a 1:26.870, followed by Norris 0.085 behind. The cut affected, in this order, Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg, a discreet Alonso, France’s Pierre Gasly, Canada’s Lance Stroll, and England’s Oliver Bearman.
As soon as Q2 got underway, Verstappen set a time of 1:26.643, with the Williams cars of Albon and Sainz following in his wake. However, Piastri and then Norris showed the dominance of the orange cars, with Frenchman Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) being eliminated alongside Hamilton’s Ferrari, the Kick Sauber of Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, the Alpine of Australian Jack Doohan and the other Racing Bulls car with Lawson.
Sainz managed to qualify sixth with a very fast Williams; Alonso was only able to finish 17th
In a case of déjà vu, Verstappen took the lead at the start of Q3 with a time of 1:26.492, keeping Norris (+0.003) and Piastri (+0.017) at bay. After changing from used tires to new ones, the Dutchman confirmed his privileged position with a lap time of 1:26.204; Norris held on to second, but Piastri lost his third place to Antonelli.
McLaren’s dominance seemed unassailable until Verstappen appeared at the start of Q3 to set the fastest time of the first session, three thousandths ahead of Norris and 17 ahead of Piastri. Sainz was pointing to seventh, half a tenth behind Albon and Russell, but ended up moving up to sixth by getting that extra gear out of his Williams.
Fernando Alonso, at the back of the grid (17th) after crashing out in Q1, faces another difficult race, while expectations are more exciting for Carlos Sainz, who will start sixth at the wheel of the Williams after a solid performance that took him back to Q3 alongside his teammate Albon.
In Q2, Sainz completed a great first lap, setting the record for the second sector to provisionally place himself in second position, and although the two McLarens, Antonelli and Verstappen, soon brought him back down to earth, the Madrid native and his teammate Albon showed promising pace with the FW47, even better than the Ferraris.