Max Verstappen delivers funny “LOL” radio sound bite after “terrible” Miami sprint pole

Max Verstappen delivered a memorable sound bite over team radio after securing pole position for the sprint race in Miami.

Heading into SQ3, McLaren’s Lando Norris looked to be the favourite to take pole for the Saturday sprint.

However, as Norris’ charge faltered, it was Verstappen who delivered when it mattered, despite putting together a scrappy lap.

Verstappen ultimately claimed pole for the sprint by just over a tenth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The Dutchman was clearly surprised when he was told by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase that he claimed pole.

Verstappen said: "LOL. What happened to the others? This was terrible.

"I mean I will take it!"

Explaining further why he was surprised to take top spot, Verstappen conceded that the performance of his Red Bull “didn’t feel great”

"It felt really terrible. Maybe that last session was just incredibly difficult to get the tyres to work,” he said.

"Already in SQ2 I didn't feel great. SQ3, it just felt quite similar for me.

"I didn't really improve on the soft. Somehow we were first. Of course, I happily take it.

"But it didn't feel enjoyable out there to drive for whatever reason because in practice it felt really, really nice, I was very comfortable and confident, qualifying, not so much.

"It might be the track layout a little bit. I thought after practice, I was quite confident we could fight for pole, then in qualifying it didn't really look like that for me.

"But somehow we ended up in first. I don't know what happened to the other cars on that last lap."

Verstappen hasn't been beaten in a sprint race since the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, when he finished behind Oscar Piastri.

Since the introduction of the sprint format in 2021, Verstappen has won eight times - six more than the next driver (Valtteri Bottas: 2).