Max Verstappen secured pole position for the Miami sprint race ahead of Charles Leclerc despite a mistake on his final flying lap.
The championship leader had to catch his car with a snap of oversteer through the turns 14 and 15 chicane but still managed to take pole by a tenth from the Ferrari driver.
Sergio Perez will start third in Saturday’s sprint race, with Daniel Ricciardo fourth for RB.
SQ1
The first phase of sprint qualifying began with the track in picture perfect conditions with track temperature in the mid-forties.
Having completed only two laps in practice before spinning out, Charles Leclerc had to try and make up for lost time and get up to speed quickly in his Ferrari. Leclerc, like all drivers, had to head out on medium tyres as per the limits for the first section of qualifying.
Max Verstappenset the early pace for Red Bull, but the two upgraded McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri set the quickest times to lead the field. That was only after Piastri narrowly avoided contact with Valtteri Bottas at turn one when the Sauber appeared unaware that the McLaren was approaching – an incident the stewards will investigate after the session.
In the closing minutes, Daniel Ricciardo managed to improve and get himself out of the drop zone, pushing Pierre Gasly into danger. The Alpine driver could not find the time needed to reach safety and he was eliminated in 16th.
The two Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Bottas were also knocked out, with the two Williams of Logan Sargeant and Alexander Albon, who had his quickest time deleted by the stewards for exceeding track limits, dropping him out.
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SQ1 result
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SQ2
Norris was quickest again after the majority of drivers completed their first runs of the second phase of sprint qualifying. Wielding the updated McLaren, Norris lapped two tenths of a second quicker than Sergio Perez in the Red Bull and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.
Drivers were starting to push their cars closer to the limit, as evident when Ricciardo brushed the wall under the bridge exiting turn 16 on his push lap. Lewis Hamilton also reported touching the same barrier.
Verstappen waited until the final minutes of the session to head out for a single run to secure passage to the final phase. He did so with the fourth-fastest time, four tenths behind Norris’s best.
After his touch with the wall, Hamilton was unable to find enough time to get…
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