Miami GP - Qualifying

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Crypto.com Miami GP

Qualifying

May 4, 2024

Verstappen secures pole position in front of Leclerc, with Sainz in Miami GP

In Miami, Max Verstappen secured pole position for the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday by outperforming Charles Leclerc from Ferrari during the qualifying session on Saturday. Verstappen crossed the finish line 0.141 seconds ahead of Leclerc in Q3, with Carlos Sainz from Ferrari finishing in third place. The starting grid's top positions reflect the results of the sprint qualifying, where Verstappen prevailed over Leclerc in the 19-lap sprint race. Despite encountering challenges with the weekend's setup, Verstappen maintained his dominant performance, clinching his sixth consecutive pole position to match Alain Prost's 1993 record.

The Dutchman mentioned later: "I think we've definitely improved the car a bit. I don't know what it is here, every year we come here I find it extremely difficult to be very consistent with the tyre feeling, the car feeling over one lap. It's just super hard to make sure sector one feels good and sector three to make that happen together is incredibly tough and again today."

"It's not the most enjoyable lap of my career, just because of how it is, and you're not very confident in the lap but we are on pole and that's the most important." He added

Likewise, Leclerc mentioned that achieving consistency across the sectors posed a challenge. "It felt so much on the limit," he said. "Obviously it was very close until Q3 when we started to push for the last one or two tenths. We started to lose the tyres in sector two and three overheating them quite a bit. Sector one was actually feeling really good, but then sector two was losing too much so today we lost a bit of time.

"But tomorrow the race is long and this morning [in the sprint] we showed a good pace so I hope tomorrow we can put Max under a bit more pressure."

Sergio Pérez, Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull, narrowly missed securing a spot on the second row by a margin of 0.005s behind Sainz. He will start in fourth place on the grid, ahead of McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Sainz stated: "I knew that in qualifying I could be in the top three and we managed to do some clean laps -- which is really tricky around here with the new soft [tyre]. Every lap is a bit of adventure with the wind, you don't know what's going to happen and keeping all this in mind it wasn't too bad.

"You always finish a lap feeling like you could've gone so much faster having a cleaner lap, but it's almost impossible having a clean lap around here, as there's always one place you slide, overheat the tyre, where the wind hits you different and you start struggling so it's a very tricky balance."

George Russell set the seventh fastest time for Mercedes, with teammate Lewis Hamilton in eighth, Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg in ninth, and RB's Yuki Tsunoda in 10th.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll was just 0.022s away from making it to Q3 and will start 11th, ahead of the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. Alex Albon secured 14th place for Williams, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who will start 15th -- his worst qualifying position this season.

Valtteri Bottas narrowly missed advancing to Q2 by just 0.010s and will begin the race in 16th place on the grid, ahead of American racer Logan Sargeant.

Despite finishing fourth in Saturday's sprint race, Daniel Ricciardo missed out on Q2 by just 0.164s and will start the grand prix from 18th position.

Kevin Magnussen secured the 19th quickest time, beating Zhou Guanyu, who is set to begin the race at the rear of the grid for Sauber on Sunday.

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Miami GP 2024 Qualifying Results

Disqualified from Q1

16. Valtteri Bottas, Sauber (1:28.463)

17. Logan Sargeant, Williams (1:28.487)

18. Daniel Ricciardo, RB (1:28.617)

19. Kevin Magnussen, Haas (1:28.619)

20. Zhou Guanyu, Sauber (1:28.824)

Disqualified from Q2

11. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin (1:28.222)

12. Pierre Gasly, Alpine (1:28.324)

13. Esteban Ocon, Alpine (1:28.371)

14. Alexander Albon, Williams (1:28.413)

15. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin (1:28.427)

Top 10 Qualifying from Miami GP 2024

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull (1:27.241)

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (1:27.382)

3. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (1:27.455)

4. Sergio Pérez, Red Bull (1:27.460)

5. Lando Norris, McLaren (1:27.594)

6. Oscar Piastri, McLaren (1:27.675)

7. George Russell, Mercedes (1:28.067)

8. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (1:28.107)

9. Nico Hülkenberg, Haas (1:28.146)

10. Yuki Tsunoda, RB (1:28.192)