Cloudiness of the sky. Dry. Air +29…28С, highway +47С
In the 2024 season, the Miami stage was the second in a row – after Shanghai – in the Saturday sprint format. On Friday, after a single one-hour practice session, the riders held a short qualifying session for the sprint.
In practice, Verstappen showed the best time, and Leclerc spent almost the entire session in the pits – on the third lap he spun due to problems with the power plant, which made it impossible to prepare the car.
Pirelli brought the three “medium” compositions – C2, C3 and C4 in the roles Hard, Medium and Soft. In the first and second parts of qualifying, each driver received a Medium set and in the final a Soft set.
In the first session Leclerc was the first to enter the track, but made a mistake and ruined his lap, after which he accelerated. On the short, fast route, the results were tight.
Traffic was a problem for many. Alonso hit the wall at Turn 16 and returned to the pits to have the mechanics check the car before re-entering the race. Bottas did not see Piastri, who completed a fast lap, and was punished after the session by losing three places at the start. Albon’s time was disallowed due to leaving the track.
Norris showed the best time in a seriously updated McLaren car (Piastri only got half of the new ones) and completed a lap in 1:27.939. Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Sargent and Albon dropped out of further competition.
In the second session Ricciardo hit the wall in Turn 16, but the car was not damaged and he stayed on track. Norris again showed the best time and completed a lap in 1:27.597. Russell, Hamilton, who also hit the wall, Ocon, Magnussen and Tsunoda did not reach the final.
In the final riders switched to Soft, but results did not improve. Verstappen drove a slower lap on soft tires than Norris in the second session on the Medium, but finished in first place.
Max Verstappen won the sprint qualification for the seventh time in his career and the first time this season. Tomorrow, Charles Leclerc will share the front row with him, Perez and Ricciardo (!) will start from the second row, Sainz and Piastri will start from third.
Sprint qualification results
| Pilot | Team | 1 session | Session 2 | Session 3 | ||||||
| M | Time | Kr | M | Time | Kr | M | Time | Kr | ||
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 4 | 1:28,194 | 6 | 4 | 1:28,001 | 3 | 1 | 1:27,641 | 3 |
| 2. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | 8 | 1:28,537 | 8 | 3 | 1:27,977 | 6 | 2 | 1:27,749 | 3 |
| 3. C. Perez | Red Bull | 9 | 1:28,681 | 3 | 2 | 1:27.865 | 5 | 3 | 1:27,876 | 3 |
| 4. D. Ricciardo | RB | eleven | 1:28,700 | 6 | 5 | 1:28.122 | 5 | 4 | 1:28,044 | 3 |
| 5. K. Sainz | Ferrari | 7 | 1:28,435 | 7 | 8 | 1:28,262 | 6 | 5 | 1:28,103 | 3 |
| 6. O. Piastri | McLaren | 2 | 1:28,056 | 7 | 6 | 1:28,163 | 6 | 6 | 1:28,161 | 3 |
| 7. L. Walk | Aston Martin | 13 | 1:28,807 | 6 | 9 | 1:28,323 | 6 | 7 | 1:28,375 | 3 |
| 8. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | 3 | 1:28,192 | 6 | 7 | 1:28,189 | 5 | 8 | 1:28,419 | 3 |
| 9. L.Norris | McLaren | 1 | 1:27,939 | 6 | 1 | 1:27,597 | 3 | 9 | 1:28,472 | 3 |
| 10. N. Hulkenberg | Hare | 15 | 1:29,040 | 6 | 10 | 1:28,330 | 6 | 10 | 1:28,476 | 3 |
| 11. D. Russell | Mercedes | 6 | 1:28,387 | 6 | eleven | 1:28,343 | 6 | |||
| 12. L.Hamilton | Mercedes | 12 | 1:28,736 | 6 | 12 | 1:28,371 | 6 | |||
| 13. E. Okon | Alps | 14 | 1:28,873 | 6 | 13 | 1:28,379 | 6 | |||
| 14. K.Magnussen | Hare | 5 | 1:28,377 | 6 | 14 | 1:28,614 | 6 | |||
| 15. Yu.Tsunoda | RB | 10 | 1:28,687 | 6 | 15 | 1:28,736 | 3 | |||
| 16. P. Gasly | Alps | 16 | 1:29,185 | 6 | ||||||
| 17. G.Zhou | Sauber | 17 | 1:29,267 | 6 | ||||||
| 18. V. Bottas | Sauber | 18 | 1:29,360 | 7 | ||||||
| 19. L. Sargent | Williams | 19 | 1:29,551 | 6 | ||||||
| 20. A. Elbon | Williams | 20 | 1:29,858 | 6 | ||||||
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
