Sergio Perez will lead the field off the line in Sunday’s (May 7) Miami Grand Prix. Perez took the top spot in qualifying by virtue of being sat in first place when Charles Leclerc crashed in the Miami International Autodrome’s high-speed turn 4-6 complex.
Fernando Alonso will start on the front row alongside Perez.
The crash occurred with two minutes remaining in the session, leading to a red flag with insufficient time for drivers to set timed laps once the session resumed. Race control opted not the resume the session, ending Q3 a whole 96 seconds prematurely and setting the top-10 starting positions as they stood on the charts at the moment of Leclerc’s crash.
“I think it has been my worst weekend up to qualifying, really,” Perez told Sky Sports’ Danica Patrick. “I just couldn’t figure out how to pull those tenths that I was missing all the time, to Max and to the Ferraris. I was just resetting everything with a small change into qualifying, and really, everything became more alive … It wasn’t coming together. It was one of those weekends where I was struggling for balance, for confidence. This tarmac is very sensitive to the temperature.”
Perez then turned his focus to a prospective title fight with his teammate.
“I’m just thinking race-by-race,” he said. “I will go out, cheer for my team because they’ve done a tremendous job. And yeah, see what happens tomorrow – tomorrow is a new opportunity. And starting from pole, we are the ones that have some effort to do. But we will just go out there and try to enjoy this amazing crowd.
Q3
Presumed polesitter Max Verstappen had yet to set a time when Leclerc’s Ferrari spun into the turn 6 barrier, stranding the Dutchman in a ninth-place grid slot for the Grand Prix. Drivers had noted a loss of grip throughout the race weekend and Verstappen’s first go at a flying lap was abandoned after a snap of oversteer.
Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen will form the second row of the grid come Sunday, while Pierre Gasly and George Russell will line up fifth and sixth.
Leclerc clocked a 1:27.861 before crashing out, fast enough to land him seventh on the time sheet. Esteban Ocon followed less than a tenth of a second behind Leclerc.
Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas will start ninth and 10th after neither driver completed a timed lap throughout Q3.
Q2
Lewis Hamilton provided the shock factor for Q2 when he was eliminated at the…
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