Formula 1 News: Verstappen out duels Leclerc for Miami GP pole

Max Verstappen has won his 7th straight F1 pole position with a lap of 1m27.241s in qualifying for the Miami GP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

This is the sixth race weekend of the year, and Verstappen has his sixth pole position, with 7 extending back to last year’s Abu Dhabi GP.

It was Verstappen’s 38th career F1 pole and his lap in his #1 Red Bull Honda was 0.141s faster than Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari as both drivers started 1-2 in today’s Sprint race today.

“I think we improved the car a bit, but every year I come here I find it difficult to be consistent,” said Verstappen. “Today was about finding that balance, and I think we did okay. It’s not the most enjoyable lap of my career just because of how slippery it was.

“[The car] feels more under control, which should help us tomorrow, but we’ll find out.”

“It felt so much on the limit, it was very close until Q3,” said Leclerc. “When we started to push for the last one or two tenths, we started to lose it. However, the race is long, and I hope tomorrow we can put Max under a bit more pressure.

“Tomorrow, I’ll try to have an even better [start].”

The 2nd Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. was third, 0.214s behind the Dutchman. “Honestly, a bit of a shame about this morning, couldn’t get past Daniel but we knew the pace was there. We managed to do some clean laps, every lap is a bit of an adventure with the wind.

“You always finish the lap and feel like you could have gone so much faster, but it’s almost impossible to put together a perfect lap. P3, clean side of the road might be a good place to start.”

Last year’s polesitter for this race, Sergio Perez, was 4th quick in the #11 Red Bull Honda, 0.219s behind his teammate.

Lando Norris rounded out the top-5 in his McLaren, 0.353s behind Verstappen.

Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri share the third row, just under a tenth between them which means it’s a net win for Piastri, who doesn’t have the full upgrades.

George Russell once again out-qualifies his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton on the fourth row by half a tenth, ahead of Hulkenberg and Tsunoda.

After Daniel Ricciardo’s heroics with P4 in the earlier Sprint, the Australian found his best Q1 time of 1:28.617 was only good enough for P18 behind Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams’ Logan Sargeant who went out in P16 and P17 respectively. Ricciardo’s race will also be hampered by a three-place grid penalty for an incident at the Chinese Grand Prix. Also ruled out behind the RB driver were Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in P19 and last-placed Sauber driver Guanyu Zhou.

The stewards have been the busiest people in the paddock today by far – and they have two separate Guanyu Zhou incidents to investigate, one pit lane one and a pit lane white line exit issue.

He qualified P20, so whatever they decide won’t change the grid overly much.

Verstappen is the man to catch, but with tire degradation and overheating set to be an issue all race long, don’t discount the possibility of a surprise or two.

Drivers in F1 history who have recorded 7 poles in a row:
Ayrton Senna
Alain Prost
Michael Schumacher
Lewis Hamilton
Max Verstappen

We’re witnessing greatness

F1 Academy

Between both F1 sessions the Miami International Autodrome also played host to the second round of the F1 ACADEMY series with Abbi Pulling taking a dominant lights-to-flag victory in her Alpine-liveried car. Starting from pole the British driver took the lead at Turn 1 and stayed ahead of her points rival Doriane Pin all the way to the checkered flag. But the interest from the local crowd was focused on the strong performance of Haas’ Chloe Chambers. The American racer was engaged in a thrilling three-way battle for third and she managed to hold on to claim a popular podium finish.

2024 Miami GP Qualifying Results