Verstappen masters Miami for third consecutive pole there, sixth straight to open season; Leclerc closest contender in P2, Ferrari teammate Sainz P3, as Scuderia split Perez
Fresh off a Sprint win earlier on Saturday, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen continued his mastery of the Miami International Autodrome by taking his third consecutive pole there for Sunday”s Grand Prix. In the Miami GP’s three years of existence, Verstappen has dominated the tricky and perilous temporary street circuit created from the roads surrounding the NFL Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium. While other drivers white knuckled it through the course’s most narrow and technical switchback turns, the supremely confident Verstappen was left to wonder what all the fuss was about en route to setting his sixth pole on the trot to start what is shaping up to be a historically dominant 2024 campaign.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was his closest pursuer for one-lap pace despite suffering an ignominious spin-and-stall in Friday’s only practice, the rapidly improving Prancing Horse setting the second fastest time in the Monegasque’s hands. Teammate Carlos Sainz was third quickest on the day, relegating the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez to P4 on the grid and giving hope to the Scuderia faithful for a potential double podium finish come race day. McLaren ran decently while trying to master their new upgrades, with Lando Norris, who has the full new package qualifying P5 and teammate Oscar Piastri, who only has the partial kit, slotting in at P6.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Miami GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:27.689 | 1:27.566 | 1:27.241 | |
| 2 | 1:28.081 | 1:27.533 | 1:27.382 | |
| 3 | 1:27.937 | 1:27.941 | 1:27.455 | |
| 4 | 1:27.772 | 1:27.839 | 1:27.460 | |
| 5 | 1:27.913 | 1:27.871 | 1:27.594 | |
| 6 | 1:28.032 | 1:27.721 | 1:27.675 | |
| 7 | 1:28.159 | 1:28.095 | 1:28.067 | |
| 8 | 1:28.167 | 1:27.697 | 1:28.107 | |
| 9 | 1:28.383 | 1:28.200 | 1:28.146 | |
| 10 | 1:28.324 | 1:28.167 | 1:28.192 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Sunday’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 4PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!.