Max Verstappen claimed pole position in Formula 1’s Sprint Qualifying session at the Miami Grand Prix, despite enduring a noticeable of oversteer on his final timed lap.
The championship leader beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez during an SQ3 shootout that was decided right at the death with one run.
Sprint Qualifying took place under searing heat and glorious Florida sunshine as all 20 drivers took to the course that winds around the renowned Hard Rock Stadium.
Leclerc was the first driver to venture out onto the track, having been limited to two laps during practice due to a spin in the nascent stages of the single practice hour.
Following the initial runs in SQ1 on the Medium compound as the rules permit, Verstappen headed the timesheets as Carlos Sainz was under threat of a surprise exit.
But Sainz improved on his next run to put Daniel Riccardo, Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant, Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon in the danger zone in the closing minutes
At the end of the 12-minute session, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri occupied the top two positions for McLaren, ahead of 2024’s one-lap specialist Fernando Alonso.
Piastri’s progress was hindered, however, when an unaware Bottas closed in on him at Turn 1, causing the two to touch in an incident that was reported to the stewards.
Bottas would be hit with a three-place grid drop that would demote him to the back of the grid as he trailed Sauber team-mate Zhou Guanyu in 18th place at the close.
The pair ended up behind Pierre Gasly who also headed for a premature exit, along with the Williams pair. Alex Alex set the slowest time after his final run was deleted.
The 10-minute SQ2 session started in earnest with most drivers heading out in unison to get as much time as possible to advance to the SQ3 shootout for Sprint pole.
Norris carried his SQ1 form into the second segment to top the leaderboard with four minutes remaining, with Verstappen emerging to embark upon a single push lap.
The Dutchman was touching half a second down through Sector 2 before Verstappen brought in a time within four-tenths of the McLaren driver to book his spot in SQ3.
However, the same couldn’t be said for Mercedes as both drivers were knocked out, with George Russell 11th and Lewis Hamilton 12th after a minor touch with the wall.
Esteban Ocon accompanied Russell and Hamilton in being eliminated prior to SQ3, along with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, who completed one lap.
The stage was set to see if Norris could maintain his form into the eight-minute SQ3 stage, but the start proved to be a quiet affair as the teams let the clock tick down.
Once the cars hit the track for their shot at claiming pole, Norris couldn’t convert his earlier pace and was down on Verstappen as he endured a disastrous first sector.
Verstappen also sustained a nervous moment coming under the freeway section, but the three-time champion retained his composure to post a 1:27.641s to bag pole.
Leclerc wound up a tenth behind Verstappen’s effort to claim second and managed to sandwich himself between the two Red Bulls as Perez mustered third in his RB20.
The star of the show, though, was RB’s Daniel Ricciardo as he produced a stellar run to clinch fourth on the grid to pip Sainz, who made an error under braking at Turn 17.
Piastri capitalised on his team-mate’s mistakes to be the lead McLaren driver in sixth despite having half the upgrade package, with Lance Stroll besting Fernando Alonso.
Behind Alonso in eighth and completing the top 10 were Norris and Nico Hulkenberg, who once again excelled to drag his Haas VF-24 car into a promising starting place.
