Miami GP Sprint Qualifying: Max Verstappen beats Charles Leclerc to pole as Mercedes suffers early exits | F1 News

Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc to pole for the Miami Grand Prix Sprint as Mercedes got off to a dismal start to the weekend with an early double exit.

Verstappen struggled with his Red Bull throughout the session, including the lap on which he took pole, but the other contenders fell to leave the world championship leader at the top of the timesheets .

Ferrari’s Leclerc recovered from missing most of the weekend’s only practice session earlier on Friday to take second place as he finished a tenth behind the Dutchman.

Lando Norris looked like the driver most likely to deny Verstappen pole after dominating SQ1 and SQ2 in his vastly improved McLaren, but the Briton will only start ninth after struggling in SQ3.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez took third, while Daniel Ricciardo claimed a hugely impressive fourth place for Red Bull’s junior RB team as the Australian fights for his future in the sport.

Carlos Sainz finished fifth for Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Piastri, while Lance Stroll took a rare qualifying victory over Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso by finishing seventh and eighth respectively.

Mercedes, who also made improvements to the Miami International Autodrome, continued their dismal start to the season as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were eliminated in SQ2.

‘LOL!’ – Verstappen shocked by Sprint pole

The upgraded MCL38 was the talk of the paddock on Friday morning when McLaren revealed that what managing director Zak Brown admitted was essentially a B-spec car, such is the scale of the changes.

The new parts, all of which Norris had and his teammate Piastri only a few, seemed to work as expected as the Briton showed good pace to dominate SQ1 and SQ2 on medium tires.

However, the mandatory switch to soft tires for the final eight-minute shootout seemed to completely unsettle Norris, as he was almost a second slower than he had been in SQ2.

Verstappen was unable to achieve the near-perfect level of performance he expects from himself and his team, but found almost 0.4 seconds of improvement between SQ2 and SQ3 to pull clear.

Given his own struggles, Verstappen appeared shocked when he was told on team radio that he had taken pole.

“LOL (laughs out loud),” he said. “What happened to the others?” It was terrible. I mean, I’ll take it!

Speaking after the session, Verstappen explained: “It was really terrible. Maybe that last session was incredibly difficult to get the tires working.”

“Already in SQ2 I didn’t feel good. In SQ3 it was just pretty similar for me. I didn’t really improve the softs. Somehow we were first. Of course , I accept it with pleasure.”

Friday provided a glimpse into Leclerc’s inconsistent start to the season as the Monegasque, who was chosen over team-mate Sainz to remain Hamilton’s teammate at Ferrari next year, missed almost the entire test after a head- early-tailed.

With the only practice session of a Sprint weekend being so crucial, missing much of it probably seemed like a major setback, but Leclerc displayed his top speed on one lap to end the day in style.

Mercedes woes continue despite improvements

While not as significant as McLaren’s improvements, Mercedes brought in a new floorpan and front suspension that they hoped would take the W15 a step forward.

However, there were few signs of improvement as neither Russell nor Hamilton were able to reach SQ3.

Hamilton, who could not be blamed at this stage for letting his mind drift to his move to Ferrari next year, cut a dejected figure at the end of his final flying lap attempt.

“I have nothing,” the seven-time world champion said on his team radio.

Mercedes will be hoping that Friday’s poor performance was due to a failure to optimize their upgrades, as opposed to the fact that the parts simply failed to fix any of their problems.

The good news for the Silver Arrows is that F1’s new Sprint format for 2024, which debuted in China last month, allows teams to make major set-up changes as the cars come out of the gate. parc ferme after Saturday’s 100km race and before qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

With only the first eight points from the Sprint, Mercedes will fight for the remains on Saturday but hope something can be salvaged from the weekend when bigger prizes become available on Sunday.

Sky Sports F1 Miami GP live schedule

Saturday May 4
3:25 p.m.: F1 Academy qualifying
4 p.m.: Miami GP Sprint (race start at 5 p.m.)
6:30 p.m.: Ted’s sprint diary
7:05 p.m.: Race 1 of the F1 Academy
8 p.m.: preparation for qualifying for the Miami GP*
9 p.m.: Miami GP qualifying*
11 p.m.: Ted’s qualification log*

Sunday May 5
6:05 p.m.: Race 2 of the F1 Academy
7:30 p.m.: Preparation for the Grand Prix on Sunday in Miami*
9 p.m.: The MIAMI GRAND PRIX*
11 p.m.: Checkered flag: reaction from the Miami GP*
Midnight: Ted’s Notebook*

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

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