2023 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Qualifying results

Perez takes pole on Miami as late Leclerc spin brings out Red Flag to scramble grid; Alonso P2, Sainz P3; Verstappen P9 after failing to set Q3 time

Saturday Qualifying for this year’s Miami Grand Prix turned unpredictable in the dying moments, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc lost it late in Q3 while trying to improve his position, spinning his Prancing Horse off the circuit entering Turn 17. That brought out a Red Flag for the stricken Ferrari and with under two minutes remaining in the final quali session, ended Q3. It also froze all the drivers in their prior positions with no more chance of improvement. For Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, that meant the fatstest lap of the session and pole for Sunday’s race. But it also doomed  his teammate and championship rival Max Verstappen to an uncharacteristic P9. The Dutchman aborted his first lap of the final session and then was never able to set another time afterwards due to Leclerc’s mishap. The very tight Miami International Autodrome is a hard place to make passes so Verstappen will have his work cut for him, though if any current F1 driver can recover from that disadvantage, it’s him. Conversely, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso benefitted from the abbreviated quali session and secured P2 alongside Perez on the front row. With the Spaniard’s run of excellent form to start 2023 and a very completive car, P2 may well be where he finishes the race.

Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz also reaped the benefits of having already banked a solid fast lap earlier in the session and will start P3, while Leclerc obviously did not improve on his standing P7 time. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was ecstatic to find himself starting P4 after a really solid day for the Danish veteran. And Alpine had a much needed good result with both cars getting through to Q3 and Pierre Gasly qualifying up in P5 and Esteban Ocon in P8.  On the other hand, Mercedes had a torrid time of it in the Miami heat with George Russell only able to manage a time good enough for P6 and teammate Lewis Hamilton unceremoniously knocked out in Q2. The seven-time World Champ will start way back in P13, his first-ever start outside the top 6 while on American soil. Ala Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was P10 and did not leave the pits at all in that fateful final session.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Miami GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:27.713 1:27.328 1:26.841 20
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:28.179 1:27.097 1:27.202 19
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:27.686 1:27.148 1:27.349 18
4 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:27.809 1:27.673 1:27.767 19
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:28.061 1:27.612 1:27.786 20
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:28.086 1:27.743 1:27.804 20
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:27.713 1:26.964 1:27.861 19
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:27.872 1:27.444 1:27.935 20
9 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:27.363 1:26.814 DNF 15
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:27.864 1:27.564 DNS 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 3:30 PM Eastern here in the States. With a rather epically jumbled grid and Vertsappen forced to make up a ton of positions on a notoriously difficult to overtake circuit, it should be a wild ride in the Sunshine State. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!