World champion Max Verstappen secured pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix, but expressed dissatisfaction with his tire performance. Verstappen edged out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by a mere 0.108 seconds, with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez finishing third.
Despite topping the earlier practice session, Verstappen struggled with tire grip during qualifying. “It felt pretty terrible,” he admitted. “I didn’t improve much on the soft, but I’ll take it.”
Leclerc, who had a disappointing practice session, managed to improve his performance in qualifying. However, he acknowledged that Verstappen’s pace was superior. “Max was very strong today,” Leclerc said. “We need to analyze and see what we can do better.”
Australian Daniel Ricciardo impressed with a fourth-place finish in his McLaren. “I know it’s in me, but did I expect a second-row start? Probably not,” Ricciardo said. “It was wild. The laps were good, but it’s hard to be really clean around here.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finished sixth and ninth, respectively. Norris attributed his performance to pushing too hard. “I just pushed too hard,” Norris said. “The car was feeling very good. Just silly to be honest.”
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso secured seventh and eighth positions, while Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg finished 10th.
Mercedes endured a disappointing qualifying session, with both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell failing to advance to Q3. “We need to work overnight and make some improvements for the main qualifying,” Russell said. “We need to try and get on top of our qualifying woes.”
In the earlier practice session, Verstappen set the fastest time, while Leclerc experienced a spin-out at Turn 16. The sprint race will take place on Saturday, followed by qualifying for Sunday’s main race.
