Formula 1 News: 2025 GP of Miami Post-Qualifying Quotes

All ten Formula 1 teams plus tire supplier Pirelli provided quotes after qualifying for the 2025 GP at the Miami International Autodrome. The pole was won by Max Verstappen

It was a day of extremes for Max Verstappen, who was classified last in the Sprint race because of a penalty for an error that was not really his fault, and then went on to set the fastest time in qualifying for the Grand Prix in his Red Bull. This was the third pole of the season for the man who has just become a father to baby Lilly, his second in a row both this year and at this circuit, as well as the 43rd of his career. His best time of 1m26.204s is a new outright lap record for the Miami International Autodrome circuit.

McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m26.269s) will start alongside Verstappen, securing his place on the front row with a time just two thousandths of a second quicker than Andrea Kimi Antonelli, third for Mercedes in 1m26.271s. Current leader of the Drivers’ championship, Oscar Piastri is fourth in 1m26.375s in the other McLaren.

Oracle Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (1st, 1:26.204): “The day didn’t start that well and the Sprint was not good for us… so you just have to refocus and do your best in Qualifying and we went from last to first within the day. To achieve pole today was unexpected. We put the lap together and didn’t make too many mistakes so that was really positive. The day didn’t start that well and the Sprint was not good for us. There wasn’t much we could do after the penalty, so you just have to refocus and do your best in Qualifying and we went from last to first within the day. We had adjusted the car a little bit beforehand and in each Qualifying session we just chipped away at it a bit more. I think we can still improve on the slow speed and I do think that we are not the quickest over a lap, but we managed to put it together, which is the most important thing in Qualifying. When you arrive to the track you go to race mode and of course, I’m very happy about achieving pole. At the end of the day it is all a Team effort; you have to look at every single detail and we are really trying our best with the car. Looking to tomorrow, in the dry we wouldn’t have that same pace but in the wet a lot of things can happen, but we need to be on it. We have some decent pace, but we need to maximize everything that we can. We will see what we can do.”

Yuki Tsunoda (10th, 1:26.943): “The positive thing is I scored points in the Sprint and if I can go from the pitlane to P6 in the Sprint, then anything is possible. I was expecting more from Qualifying, but the Sprint was a good recovery, so it’s mixed feelings for me today. The positive thing is I scored points in the Sprint and if I can go from the pitlane to P6 in the Sprint, then anything is possible. I gave it my all out there in qualifying, in previous qualis I have made some mistakes and I felt like this one was pretty clean, so I am a little disappointed it was only good enough for P10. The lap was alright but we definitely have a bit more to find, I don’t want to be in a bad mood and to keep overthinking it, it’s hard but we can’t think that straight away we will be top five. Gradually I am improving race by race, so I did want a bit more today, but we have to be patient. The pace in the long run in FP1 wasn’t great but we have adapted the set-up and the car is different now, so I can maximize better in the race when it counts and I feel confident in it. The rain mixed things up in the Sprint and we don’t know what is going to happen with the weather on Sunday yet. I made up 14 places today so tomorrow I only have nine cars to go! I want to score good points; I will stick to my positivity and do my best.”

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: “It was really impressive, Max’s third pole of the year and our third successive pole here and a track record. That was another stunning performance from Max. Nearly the perfect lap. He had a little wobble at turn one but was able to keep the moment going and then he just nailed the last corner as well. Yuki equally did well to get to Q3 again, again, the third time he has done so and he recovered impressively in the Sprint today to rise from back of the grid to P6. He is settling in well and getting a good feel for the car, let’s hope he can carry it into the race. Tomorrow it is all to play for. Miami is a long race and it’s also a tricky race. There is a chance of rain too and as such, the risk of a safety car. A safety car can change the dynamic of the whole race as we have seen previously. As I say, all to play for!”

McLaren Formula 1 Team

Lando Norris (2nd, 1:26.269): “A good day on track with an important Sprint victory and positive Qualifying position. I’m happy with my performances and the progress I’ve been making with the car this weekend. It’s been feeling good, and I’ve taken positive steps forward in every session. I’ll continue to work hard with my team overnight as Miami seems to be full of surprises but I’m ready for anything, and keen to see what we can do into Turn 1 tomorrow.”

Oscar Piastri (4th, 1:26.375): “It’s been a bit of a frustrating day, but there are positives as we head into race day tomorrow. This morning I did all I could to win the Sprint, but unfortunately the timing of the Safety Car just took it away from me. However, the team did a good job in tricky conditions, and P2 in the Sprint was still a positive result. Unfortunately, this afternoon I just fell out of the rhythm at the wrong time and wasn’t able to put a good lap in during Q3. It’s a shame as my pace in Q2 was strong and proved there were a few more positions on offer. Tomorrow is another day and the pace in the car is good, so we’ll try to make up those positions in the race tomorrow.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal: “Another solid Qualifying session to close a positive day for us overall, following P1 and P2 in the Sprint earlier. The field is very tight. We saw once again that Verstappen managed to put together a good lap in Qualifying to take Pole position. There’s not much margin to our competitors at the moment, which is a reminder of the work we need to keep doing to improve the competitiveness of the car. Our car had good potential in Qualifying but it’s a little tricky to drive at the limit, which is something we need to continue to work on. Still, the positions are promising for tomorrow, we can race well from there, and the race pace is very strong. We’re looking forward to another exciting Miami GP.”

Scuderia Ferrari HP

Charles Leclerc (8th, 1:26.754): “It’s been a tough weekend so far. This morning wasn’t a great start, and in qualifying, I expected to have a chance to turn things around. We just don’t have the pace and the grip our competitors have and a track like this reveals this weakness even more. This is not the result we want as a team and there’s a lot of work ahead of us.”

Lewis Hamilton (12th, 1:27.006): “Today was definitely an eventful one. We put in a strong performance in the Sprint, which was a great result given the challenging weather and our starting position. I suggested the switch to softs, and the team executed a fantastic pit stop, that really made the difference. Qualifying was more difficult; we lacked grip and overall pace, and P12 isn’t where we want to be. But we’ll go through everything overnight and look at how we can optimize the strategy to fight back tomorrow.”

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: “We are not happy with our qualifying today as we struggled too much with the new sets of tires right from Q1. We were losing a lot in turns 1 and 2 while in the rest of the lap our pace was decent. We need to see all the data as this weekend we are not extracting all the potential of the car and we were not able to find the right balance, especially for the flying laps. We can take some positives from the Sprint race, as I think it showed our pace in the dry was quite good and thanks to the right strategy Lewis found himself in a position from which he could do a great job, recovering well from P7 and finishing on the podium. I’m confident we have a better race pace in the car but of course it’s not easy to exploit it starting in the middle of the group. We need to be patient and see how the race will unfold, staying focused on ourselves, ready to seize any opportunity.”

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (3rd, 1:26.271): “I’ve felt confident with the car throughout this weekend, and it was good to convert that into another strong qualifying result. I struggled a little bit in Q1 and Q2, not having as clean a run as I had in Sprint Qualifying yesterday. My last lap in Q3 was my best effort today though. I was a little greedy in turn one, but the rest of the lap was quick. The gaps at the front are incredibly tight and even a few hundredths can make a difference. I am happy with how my lap was though and P3 is a good place to be starting from for tomorrow’s GP. The Sprint race was a little disappointing this morning. I lost several places at turn one and then was unfortunate with the contact with Verstappen in the pit lane. We had the opportunity and the pace to have a stronger result, but it was good to bounce back later in the day. We will be aiming to have a cleaner race tomorrow and see what we can do.”

George Russell (5th, 1:26.385): “Qualifying has been a strength of mine since the beginning of the season, but it has not clicked for me either yesterday or today. I am therefore relatively happy to take P5 on the grid for tomorrow’s because we know how tight the field is. To end up just under two tenths from pole is a bit of a surprise given the confidence I’ve been lacking on the single lap. The car is obviously quick as Kimi did another great job in Qualifying. I am really proud of how he has performed; he has been consistent, and we’ve got another chance to score some solid points for the team tomorrow. We will reset tonight, and I’ll make sure I am performing at my best tomorrow. The Sprint was a little disappointing as we finished only one place ahead of where we started by virtue of a time penalty. We should have perhaps made the call to go to slicks earlier and we could have gained a couple more positions. That said, the GP is where the big points are scored. It may be mixed weather conditions again and we will be ready to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way.”

Toto Wolff, Team Principal: “We need to be pleased with the performances we put in during Qualifying today. Both drivers didn’t have the perfect laps, so we could hypothetically talk about starting higher up on the grid; Kimi had a small mistake at turn one and George had a snap of oversteer through turn seven. Nevertheless, we know it was going to be a tough ask to challenge the McLarens and Verstappen so, even though we’re never going to be satisfied with P3 and P5, we can look forward to Sunday. The weather forecast for the race is mixed and we wouldn’t be unhappy with a few rain showers tomorrow. Our race pace isn’t as strong as the McLarens in the hotter conditions, and both Verstappen and the Ferraris have shown in recent races how quick they can be in similar circumstances. It is an area we are working hard to improve on and hopefully we can take a step forward in the upcoming races. For now, we will race hard tomorrow and see what we can do from the second and third rows of the grid.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: “The Sprint this morning was frustrating. Kimi had a bit of wheel spin off the line, battled for position with Piastri and ultimately dropped to P4. After that, it was all about the transition to the dry tires. We hesitated and went one lap later than others but would have still been in a decent position had Verstappen not been unsafely released into Kimi’s path. He reacted well to avoid anyone getting hurt but ultimately it finished his race as he had to drive around and stop the next lap. George lost a bit of race time by stopping the lap after but that was inevitable. It would have been good to see where we performed if we had more racing in the dry, but that will wait until tomorrow. We still scored some useful points, but it could have been a lot better. We made a few small changes to the car going into Qualifying. The track seemed a bit more difficult today, with the drivers finding it harder to know where to position the tire temperatures. Generally, the tires were not biting as well as they had yesterday for us. It wasn’t an easy route through to Q3, but we got both cars there with two new sets of Soft tires. Neither driver got perfect laps; both could have found a bit more and the gaps to pole position were not large. Starting P3 and P5 still gives us the opportunity for a good result tomorrow and, with threat of rain, anything can happen.”

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Fernando Alonso (17th, 1:27.604): “A difficult day. In Qualifying, we just didn’t have the pace to proceed to Q2, so it will be a challenge to score points tomorrow. We need to better understand the issues and find some pace. In the Sprint, I was having a perfect race and felt competitive. We should have taken dry tires earlier, but we were still going to score points when Lawson made contact with me. Thank you to the team on the ground who helped repair the car before Qualifying: the mechanics always perform at the top level so thanks to them.”

Lance Stroll (19th, 1:27.830): “We know we don’t have the pace currently and finished Qualifying as we expected. We made some positive set-up changes following the Sprint and the car felt the best it has been all weekend, but we know we are just not quick enough. So it felt really good to get a decent result in the Sprint earlier today. It’s the little wins at the moment, and it felt like everything fell into place, with lots of opportunities and some good decisions. But we’re not where we want to be right now and need to find more pace.”

Andy Cowell, CEO & Team Principal: “An eventful day in Miami with a wet Sprint and a dry Qualifying session keeping us busy and the fans entertained. Lance scored four points in the Sprint with an excellent race and well-judged strategy. Fernando’s Sprint was looking good, too, as he ran in the points until Liam [Lawson] pushed him into wall in the closing laps. Getting Fernando’s car fixed and out in time for Qualifying required a massive team effort – drawing on the component preparation work done back at base – and both sides of the garage helping with repairs. The Qualifying results are reflective of our pace combined with such a tight grid. Let’s see what we can do to progress up the field tomorrow, especially if the rain showers return. We will be ready to maximize any opportunities in the race.”

BWT Alpine F1 Team

Jack Doohan (14th, 1:27.186): “It was a better end to Qualifying today. Of course, it would have been great to progress through to Q3, but I felt the car was in a good window and we pushed to get what we could out of the session. We were on the pace quite quickly in Q1 and our first sector was quite strong. With such close margins across the grid, it is the small things which come into play to make the difference between positions. We will debrief tonight to see what gains can be made and see what is possible tomorrow. The weather is looking like it will rain again so we will look to take advantage of anything which could come from that. The aim will be to hold onto our position and set ourselves up to optimize the opportunities that arise for us to progress forward.”

Pierre Gasly (18th, 1:27.710): “It is not the Qualifying result we had hoped for. We made a few changes to get the car in a better place for this session but in the end, we were not fast enough on all the runs so we need to analyze why we lacked in performance. There are some other details to look at, as the car did not feel the same as previously in the weekend. There was also a bit of traffic on my last run. I was the first to come out on my run and that meant I had traffic in the first sector. Nonetheless, my runs were clean, but we just did not manage to be fast enough. It is good to get a point from this morning’s Sprint Race after some cars got penalties, we moved up to P8. Now we can sit down as a team and work on preparing for tomorrow’s race.”

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Esteban Ocon (9th, 1:26.824): “It was a frustrating Sprint race because unfortunately we were constantly looking behind. We just didn’t have the pace, struggling with understeer, braking and front tire temperatures, as we destroyed the tires after five or six laps, and from then, there wasn’t really much to fight for. I think we maximized our qualifying, we really got ourselves in there. We did overcome some of the issues, I think there are still some more, but that’s very good as it means there’s a lot of potential in the car. I’m really proud of everyone’s work, we didn’t give up, and although it was a tricky session, we got the car to where it should be. We need to keep that going and hopefully bring the car back home inside the top 10.”

Oliver Bearman (20th, 1:27.999): “I didn’t have the feeling and I didn’t put the lap together, it was too messy of a lap. I probably didn’t have the best run plan only using two sets of tires, so I did my second lap on the used, which is quite different to then going onto the new on the end. We didn’t change the car, I was happy with it, so it hurts a little. Our race pace is good, but sorry to the team.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: “I think Ollie had an amazing Sprint, coming back from the back to P8. It’s sad that we got a penalty for an unsafe release, it was marginal, but of course it’s our mistake. Ollie did an amazing job and it gave us confidence going into qualifying. Then in qualifying, Q1 is of course the trickiest part, and Esteban did a good job but Ollie couldn’t get a clean lap and unfortunately he didn’t maximize his performance. In Q2, Esteban did an amazing job; he made a big mistake on the lap, but the rest of the lap was amazing so he got into Q3. I feel to achieve P9 with that lap time is the best we could achieve today, so with Esteban we maximized it. Tomorrow, we’re going to try our best to get into the points. With Ollie – I don’t know if he just likes to start P20 and overtake as many people as possible – but we know what he can do, he’s a great racer, so we’ll try our best with him as well.”

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team

Isack Hadjar (11th, 1:26.987): “I think we had a good enough car to go through to Q3, but unfortunately we missed it by only a couple of hundredths. Just being a few places in front would have been better for tomorrow, but that’s part of the game. This morning, I raced my first proper F1 race in the wet, so everything was new for me. The start of the Sprint wasn’t good, but we’ll review it ahead of tomorrow’s main race. Then, for the rest of the race, I think our pace wasn’t good enough. Probably pitting a couple of laps earlier would have been better, but it’s always easy to say it once you’re looking back. As for qualifying, it was frustrating today. I think we had a good enough car to go through to Q3, but unfortunately we missed it by only a couple of hundredths. Just being a few places in front would have been better for tomorrow, but that’s part of the game. It isn’t exactly the session we wanted, but I feel like I did my best during my lap. It seems we’re still losing most of the time in the chicane section, so we’ll have a look at it to understand where we can improve. It should be raining tomorrow or at least mixed conditions at some point, and starting from P11, I believe that with a good start and strategy, we can fight for points.”

Liam Lawson (15th, 1:27.363): “We’re hopeful that we can fix the issue before tomorrow and the weather is definitely going to impact expectations for the race. We had a good start in the Sprint race and I managed to make some overtakes on lap one. The pace was ok, but everyone was struggling with the track drying. Alonso was obviously coming out on cold tires and I stayed behind him and waited for DRS. The contact with Alonso wasn’t intended and resulted in an unfortunate incident. The penalty is a really tough one to take because other than that it was a great start to the weekend. When it came to Qualifying, we clearly had a battery issue during the session which meant the car wasn’t getting full power. It’s a shame because we found a good step in the car today. We’re hopeful that we can fix the issue before tomorrow and the weather is definitely going to impact expectations for the race. We go again tomorrow.”

Tim Goss, Chief Technical Officer: “We were agonizingly close to Q3 today. It is incredibly tight and we know that we have every opportunity to grab some points tomorrow. Our challenge for Qualifying today was to build on the promising performance we demonstrated in Sprint Qualifying. We knew there was more to come from the car, and with the support of the factory, we took the decision to further evolve the setup following the Sprint. The car worked well. Our high-speed performance is a strength, although we still feel there is more to come from the low speed section here in Miami. Qualifying didn’t go entirely to plan. Liam suffered an issue with an engine sensor which sapped vital performance on the final run to the line. He did a superb job to get through to Q2 despite this handicap, but could progress no further. Isack braked a little too late on his first run in Q2 having to abort the lap, but recovered well on his second run to put it in 11th place on the grid. We were agonizingly close to Q3 today. It is incredibly tight and we know that we have every opportunity to grab some points tomorrow.”

Williams Racing

Carlos Sainz (6th, 1:26.569): “I’m very happy with that Qualifying result. I’ve felt good in the car since FP1 and I knew I was fast this weekend, so it feels good to have a clean session and extract the maximum out of the car. The weekend is not over yet and we still need to deliver a perfect race if we want to pick up some good points, so full focus on tomorrow.”

Alexander Albon (7th, 1:26.682): “Today was disappointing. It’s hard to go into a Qualifying session straight after receiving a penalty in a really strong Sprint race. You try to shake it off and go again but it’s difficult. I think I did it though! I rose to the challenge, I’m pleased with P7 and having both cars in Q3 is great for the team. Our pace is super strong and this will help us a lot tomorrow. We can do a good job in the race, we just need to keep it clean.”

James Vowles, Team Principal: “What I love about this team is that even when we are kicked down, we come back stronger. It was great to see the whole team fired up and wanting to show the world that we have a fast car this weekend. It was a perfectly executed Qualifying and the result is an incredibly rewarding one. We’ve got a good car for the race tomorrow – we have to acknowledge that there are fast cars behind us – but our job is to get two cars in the points.”

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Gabriel Bortoleto (13th, 1:27.151): “I’m genuinely happy to be back in Q2 with a solid performance after some tough rounds in which I wasn’t able to show our full potential, but there’s still a tinge of frustration as I think we had a chance to be even higher – perhaps even in Q3. Today felt like a step forward – the team did a great job with the car, I felt comfortable and able to build confidence throughout the session, run after run. My second push in Q1 was probably the best lap I’ve done all weekend; the car was in the perfect window. I made a small mistake in my final Q2 run, but no one ever puts together a perfect lap here. Overall, it was a decent job. Most importantly, I feel we were able to put it all together in qualifying and show the pace we have, which is something we haven’t been able to do consistently so far this season. To do so today and show what the team, the car, and I are capable of means a lot. Now the focus is on tomorrow: starting P13, with a chance of rain and a few surprises likely, everything is possible. Others have scored points from these places on the grid, so we’ll give it everything tomorrow and aim to bring home a strong result.”

Nico Hulkenberg (16th, 1:27.473): “Today has not been the best Saturday. After the promising performance in yesterday’s Sprint qualifying, I didn’t meet my expectations for both the Sprint and for qualifying. In the Sprint I lost ground in the first lap, which made it very difficult to recover in such a short event, even though I ended up in P9 after a few penalties to other drivers. Turning to this afternoon’s qualifying session, Q2 would have been possible: however, on my last lap, the rear of my car snapped a bit at the exit of Turn One and I lost two to three tenths of a second, bringing less momentum into the long straight. I tried to make up the time in the last sector, which unfortunately didn’t work out. Now we have to look ahead and prepare for the race.”

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “Today’s Sprint was busy. The race started in wet conditions, and while Nico didn’t quite get the start he was hoping for, both drivers navigated the first lap cleanly. In retrospect, we might have benefited from a more aggressive call onto dry tires, but most importantly, we brought both cars home without damage—Nico in P12 and Gabriel in P15. Qualifying was a relatively smooth session. Nico couldn’t quite piece together a full lap and finished P16, but Gabriel delivered a very strong performance in both Q1 and Q2, narrowly missing out on Q3 by just two tenths. Overall, it’s been a positive day—particularly for Gabriel—and a solid foundation for the rest of the weekend.”

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“A very busy qualifying session, featuring a very close fight for the top places, with the top three drivers, from three different teams, separated by just 67 thousandths of a second, showing how closely matched are the cars this season.

The Sprint was also action-packed, mainly due to the weather. The heavy rain that fell before the start meant that the Intermediate was the only choice. Once a dry racing line began to appear, these tires started to wear a lot, especially the front right and the lap times got significantly slower. The switch to slicks immediately proved to be the way to go, to the extent that eventually the entire field pitted for dry tires, including those at the front who had built up a good margin over their pursuers.

This could be a factor to consider for tomorrow if it were to rain again. In that situation, drivers will have to be very careful in managing the Intermediates. If the race is run in the dry, the small amount of data gathered yesterday and today, with just one free practice session and the Sprint run almost entirely in the wet, only serves to consolidate the strategy forecasts from before the weekend. Despite the move to a trio of compounds one step softer than in 2024, the one stop is on paper, the quickest, with Medium and Hard as the obvious choices. Nine of the ten teams – Racing Bulls being the exception – have kept two sets of C3 per driver, not necessarily with the intention of using both in the race, but to have a backup in case of safety cars or red flags, something which is far from unlikely at this track.”