In the Miami Grand Prix qualifying, Lando Norris was leading in the first and second segments. His time in the middle part was so good that it could have been the fastest in the final part. But when he switched to soft tires for the last segment, he couldn’t keep up, losing 0.8 seconds compared to Verstappen in the first part.
Verstappen’s lap to clinch pole position for the sprint race wasn’t perfect. He had to struggle with his car in the tight chicane at the end of the track, but he still managed to post a time of 1m27.641s, which was the fastest.
Charles Leclerc came in second, just over 0.1 seconds behind. It was impressive considering he missed most of the practice sessions due to a spin and clutch issue.
Sergio Perez finished third in the other Red Bull car, with Daniel Ricciardo in fourth. Ricciardo was lucky to avoid hitting the wall in the second segment of qualifying.
Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin hit the wall in the first segment and finished eighth. Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri, and Lance Stroll followed behind.
Norris ended up beating only Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, despite being fastest in the final two sectors of qualifying. His slow start in the first sector cost him a better position.
In the second segment, Mercedes faced disappointment as both their cars were eliminated. George Russell finished 11th, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 12th, who hit the wall on his final lap.
Further back, Esteban Ocon from Alpine, Kevin Magnussen from Haas, and Yuki Tsunoda from Red Bull finished in 13th, 14th, and 15th respectively. They, along with Verstappen and Norris, only completed one flying lap in the middle segment.
In the first segment, Alex Albon improved his time at the last moment but still got eliminated. Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, and Logan Sargeant also got eliminated. Bottas faces an investigation for nearly colliding with Piastri at Turn 1, while Hamilton faces a hearing for a possible pits infringement during the session. Many drivers are also being investigated for not following the race director’s instructions regarding outlaps.
