Max Verstappen beats Charles Leclerc in Miami to claim 7th consecutive F1 pole
Max Verstappen made it seven pole positions in a row as he topped qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen will start Sunday’s F1 Miami Grand Prix on pole position after beating Charles Leclerc by 0.141s.
Like in sprint qualifying, no one could get close enough to Verstappen’s 1m27.241s on the final runs.
Verstappen and the two Ferraris failed to improve on their final laps in Q3, ensuring the order remained the same.
Sergio Perez did improve on his final lap but narrowly missed out on third by 0.005s.
It means the top four were separated by just 0.219s in qualifying with Verstappen leading Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Perez.
After showing outstanding pace on the mediums in sprint qualifying, Lando Norris attempted to do his first lap in Q3 on them, rather than the favoured softs.
The gamble didn’t pay off as he trailed his teammate after the first run in Q3 before getting ahead of Oscar Piastri to secure fifth.
Piastri will start sixth ahead of the two Mercedes drivers of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Russell and Hamilton opted to do their final run on the mediums having run out of softs.
Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.
It was a poor day for Aston Martin as both drivers failed to make it out of Q2.
Lance Stroll enjoyed a rare win over Fernando Alonso in qualifying, with the Canadian narrowly missing out on Q3.
Pierre Gasly out-qualified Esteban Ocon for the first time in 2024 as both Alpines progressed into Q2, highlighting their progress.
Valtteri Bottas was knocked out in Q1 but continued his streak of out-qualifying Zhou this season.
Logan Sargeant will start 17th ahead of a disappointed Daniel Ricciardo, who struggled for pace despite starring in the sprint.
Kevin Magnussen encountered traffic on his final run, leaving him 19th ahead of Zhou Guanyu.
