Max Verstappen was surprised to have taken the pole position in the Sprint Race in the Miami GP, because the Dutchman did not have the perception of having gone fast with Red Bull. It should not be surprising, in fact, if the three-time world champion closed the only run of SQ3 in 1’27″641, a time obtained with the soft tires, when Lando Norris had reached 1’27″594 in SQ2 with the medium mix. The evolution of the track, which had been very evident, suddenly stopped and several drivers were unable to exploit the full potential of their single-seaters.
Charles Leclerc surprisingly emerged at the top of the grid, 108 thousandths behind the RB20. The Ferrari driver demonstrated his talent: even though in the first free practice session he was unable to complete a lap due to a spin in which he overheated the clutch, the Monegasque faced qualifying with the brazenness of a champion. The Cavallino driver found the motivation to bring the SF-24 to the front row, while Carlos Sainz did not go beyond fifth place: the Madrilenian paid for a small mistake that cost him dearly, because he could have been at the rear of his teammate squad.
The hero of the day is certainly Daniel Ricciardo who brought the Racing Bulls to fourth place: the Australian took big risks, but brought home a result that goes well beyond the expectations of the Faenza team. Since Daniel has benefited from the new chassis, the Gascon rider we have always seen seems to have re-emerged.
Obviously let’s not forget Sergio Perez’s third performance: the Mexican with the second RB20 left a couple of tenths to the “captain”, but capitalized on starting on the second row. The big disappointment is McLaren who are satisfied with Oscar Piastri’s sixth place with the MCL38 equipped with only half of the updates, which were instead reserved entirely for Lando Norris. The Englishman seemed to be the big favorite and, instead, he made a serious mistake which relegated him only to ninth position. The papaya car showed great potential with the new features, but this time Lando wasted the chance to repeat the performance he achieved in China.
Aston Martin lined up its two drivers: the news is that Lance Stroll, seventh, managed to stay in front of Fernando Alonso: the “green car” equipped with new parts did not impress. The AMR24 will need some fine tuning to show its full potential.
Nico Hulkenberg’s performance was positive: the German, who is about to join Audi, climbed with Haas up to Q3: it wasn’t fair to ask him for more than tenth place and he gave the team the best it could hope for.
Very difficult moment for Mercedes: the two drivers remain outside the Top 10 although the Brackley team has brought an update package. The black-silver arrow worsens his behavior as the track becomes more rubbery. George Russell did not enter Q3 by 13 thousandths, but the Star’s expectations are very different. A submissive Lewis Hamilton is also disappointing as he is twelfth by just 28 thousandths behind his teammate. The seven-time world champion also grazed a wall and ended up under the scrutiny of the college of sports commissioners because he was the protagonist of an irregularity in the pit lane. The Englishman seemed very disappointed at the lack of growth in the car despite the new features.
Esteban Ocon had to settle for 13th place with Alpine: the Frenchman left the back of the grid, making the most of the A524 which is constantly evolving. Kevin Magnussen is 14th with Haas, the Dane had the new floor, but was unable to do better than Hulkenberg who still had the old version.
Yuki Tsunoda is 15th and without time in Q2: the Japanese driver from Racing Bulls paid a track limit which made him cancel his performance, so he didn’t collect as much as he could have.
Pierre Gasly does not pass the trap of the SQ1 with the Alpine: the Frenchman preceded the two Saubers of Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas. The Finn is under investigation for a very dangerous maneuver while he was on a launch lap and did not see that Oscar Piastri’s McLaren was arriving at full speed. The Australian was grazed by the Sauber, but got away with a long shot, while a very bad accident could have been triggered. Valtteri was not notified of the arrival of the MCL38 and did not realize the risk he was taking.
The two Williams did poorly: Logan Sargeant, in front of the home crowd, had the satisfaction of preceding his teammate, Alexander Albon. The Anglo-Thai fell to the back of the grid because he saw his best performance canceled due to a track limit: he was 16th on the track and ended up 20th…
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