Qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix featured few surprises, with the same front row as sprint qualifying, but the former star performer took a big step back.
Max Verstappen took pole position for the 2024 Miami Grand Prix after seeing off Charles Leclerc in the sprint qualifying session and subsequent sprint race.
max verstappen
Verstappen has spent most of his time looking completely confused as to why he’s faster than anyone, given his terrible tire behavior at Red Bull, but he still managed to stay ahead of everyone this weekend. I kept running.
None of the top three cars improved in the second run of Q3, and Verstappen’s first lap proved to be enough to take pole position and secure the top spot.
Although his post-session radio was not as memorable as his “LOL” message after sprint qualifying, the Dutch driver explained after qualifying that Red Bull did not enjoy Pirelli tires for the first time.
“I think it was very difficult to get it all into a lap where it all worked out,” he said.
“For some reason, it’s very difficult to get the tire to work all the way around. Well, sometimes there are little moments here and there and it’s not very consistent, let’s put it that way. Trying to achieve a lap becomes very difficult.
“So every time I got on the board, I had to guess a little bit about what was going to happen and it wasn’t very fun to drive. But I think we handled the situation well. The best we could. I gave it my all and the car definitely felt a little better compared to yesterday.”
There are signs that the wins will continue on Sunday, given that he was able to control the sprint in a car he wasn’t too happy with.
Charles Leclerc/Ferrari
The strange-looking bluish-red Ferrari has performed well so far this weekend and looks more competitive than it did in the race in China two weeks ago.
Leclerc is starting to reestablish himself, responding to the pressure put on him by Sainz early in the season and rising to the top by less than a tenth of a second.
The Monegasque driver blamed the tires for not being able to improve on his second run and tried to find the 10th position he needed to challenge Verstappen, with himself and Sainz lined up behind Verstappen. He pointed out the fact that there is, and pointed out that he could take second place. Continued attacks on the race.
“Even just the sprint race was a little bit closer to a normal race,” Leclerc said of his optimism heading into the Grand Prix.
“Max wasn’t too happy with his car in the sprint race this morning. So we’ll have to see how far he progresses tomorrow when he’s happy with the car.
“But we’ve made some tweaks on our side. I believe we’ve also taken a step forward. So let’s take a look.
“But with the kind of pace we saw this morning, I think if we strategize we can always put a little more pressure on. And I hope that happens. We’ve got two cars in front of us, so it’s a good chance. ”
mercedes
The sprint part of the weekend was absolutely terrible for Mercedes, with neither George Russell nor Lewis Hamilton able to break out of the midfield due to poor qualifying.
However, after changing their set-up after the sprint and increasing their ultimate pace over the cars being chased, the two cars aimed at helping race pace were able to advance to Q3 with relative ease. Ta.
Mercedes ran out of fresh soft tires for the final run of Q3, but seventh and eighth on the grid is no disaster. Admittedly, this is a far cry from the standards Mercedes were once accustomed to, but once again Hamilton showed flashes of speed that hinted at the potential inherent in the W15. If only Mercedes could find a way to unlock it consistently.
mclaren
McLaren’s erratic weekend promises more than they have achieved so far, but fifth and sixth on the grid for Sunday’s race helped the Woking-based team take on Ferrari and Red Bull I was able to prepare for the battle.
The sprint portion of the weekend ran away after McLaren was unable to get its soft tires operating optimally for the full time of the Q3 race, and Norris unusually took time to experiment with medium tires during qualifying.
The comprehensive upgrade package introduced this weekend has not been optimized for the car given the lack of practice time, but early signs are good for the Woking-based team.
The team is increasingly approaching the capabilities of Red Bull and Ferrari, and McLaren is arguably the fastest Mercedes-powered team. With a little luck in the situation, there is little that can make the difference between Norris being able to score his first win in an F1 race or not.
sergeant logan
Indeed, if Kimi Antonelli is granted an FIA exemption to be granted a superlicence before his 18th birthday, his F1 career may pass rather quickly, but Sargent’s last We’re digging deeper into what could be our home race.
He finished 10th in the sprint race, but unfortunately was not in the points, missing out on qualifying for Q2 by just 0.034 seconds, just over 10 seconds slower than Alex Albon.
On the weekend when he surpassed Albon in qualifying for the first time. Until now As a teammate of Williams (unsurprisingly after Albon’s time was removed), Sargent hasn’t been pushed to the bottom of his own as often as he seems, and so far, he’s been playing with some pride. I can look back on this weekend.
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loser
Daniel Ricardo
Ricciardo had made clear progress in the first half of the weekend, finishing fourth and holding off the fierce pursuit of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, but he bounced back nicely in qualifying.
Ricciardo, who faced a Sword of Damocles qualifying session with a three-place grid penalty, struggled with grip and was knocked out at the first hurdle, facing a difficult Sunday.
But make no mistake, Ricciardo is regaining his confidence and even if qualifying doesn’t go well, the Australian can see this weekend as a major turning point on his way back.
“I’m glad I still have that dog in me. It’s cool. A lot of people like to talk trash, so it’s nice to subtly put up a few middle fingers,” Ricardo said after the session. Ta.
“Yesterday we had a bit of a sniff, but I think we took advantage of it. Tomorrow we start from the back in 4 hours!”
Ricciardo, who had to go from the highest point in the sprint to the lowest point in qualifying, said he felt it was the same as what happened to Norris in sprint qualifying.
“I think it was one of those games where I didn’t think we could do anything in terms of not having the grip at the start of the lap,” he said.
“I felt the same way Lando felt yesterday in SQ3. I don’t know what he said after that, but I watched his lap and he was about a second slower on the soft. Turn 1 I could already see him skating from the exit and it was a mess and that’s how I felt honestly.
“I felt like I was handicapped a little bit because I didn’t think that second set of tires was going to perform as well as it should with the new softs. Obviously, there’s no answer as to why. I don’t know if Rand had the answers yesterday, but I felt his pain.
“The lap times are in the car, but you have no idea what happened to the second set of tires. It’s kind of a thing because there’s no facts behind it, but it gives me what I want. The frustration is there because you feel it when they don’t.”
Kevin Magnussen
Magnussen has fallen into the role of Nico Hulkenberg’s rear gunner (very capable) given his willingness to absolutely throw all pretense out the window when he needs to defend from following vehicles.
His sprint races were hilariously entertaining and typical of his refusal to let anyone pass him.
He was given a penalty of more than 30 minutes, but he shrugged it off and started qualifying with a clean slate while stewards investigated his actions for unsportsmanlike driving.
Hulkenberg advanced to Q3, but Magnussen had his flying lap ruined by disturbing traffic at Turn 17, knocking him out in 19th place.
“Every time we talk about traffic after qualifying, it sounds like a record has been broken,” he said later.
“We have a decent car so I think we can do something tomorrow, but starting from a bad position because of the traffic is tiring. Now it’s time to stay focused and work.”
Fernando Alonso
Alonso hasn’t been looking as sharp as usual this weekend, even unusually struggling to keep pace with Lance Stroll.
The contact with Stroll in Turn 1 of the sprint may have been due to problems within the team, but Hamilton’s fierce attack saved him and shifted the blame to the Mercedes driver.
Due to a delay in the final flying lap of Q2, he remained in 15th place on the grid. Replays showed he missed the apex and struggled with grip overall – Stroll managed to come out on top by a few tenths of a second, but the Canadian didn’t make it to the final. Ta. Q3 Either.
“I struggled in Q1 and Q2, but I finished 15th in both sessions,” Alonso said after the race.
“I didn’t seem to have much pace, and this time I was a little bit outside of the group fighting for the top 10. I’ve made a few changes to my setup from the sprint race to now, but those changes didn’t seem to work.
Steward’s decision
A completely inexplicable decision was recently made by the stewards. At the time of writing, the petition filed by Aston Martin over the weekend has not yet been formally approved, but it is understood that the petition has been rejected.
Overtaken and perhaps the catalyst for the accident on the first lap of the sprint race, the stewards almost immediately decided not to investigate, despite the resulting ejection of multiple cars.
Hamilton escaped any scrutiny for that, but Fernando Alonso received a much stiffer penalty for a much smaller accident with Carlos Sainz in the China Sprint, and for helping Mercedes by slowing down in front of George Russell. He even received a penalty. A driver crashes at the end of a race in Australia.
However, the stewards did not penalize Hamilton, so it was the innocent Lando who was fined €50,000 for walking across the track to return to the pits and not having Hamilton’s permission. It was Norris. Stewards.
A few minutes later, Kevin Magnussen was also given an immediate 10-second time penalty for missing the chicane. This is because he went off track and gained a permanent advantage in the eyes of the stewards, which is obviously a much bigger problem than making contact with another car while driving. Entering the corner too early.
Stewards’ decisions have been a little inconsistent lately, with Alonso being the main victim of some risky decisions. His comments to DAZN that the stewards would not do anything about Hamilton because he is “not Spanish” were enough to bring Hamilton into disrepute and could be worse, but it has to be said. It seems that what the Spaniards say has a point.
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