Sergio Perez claimed pole position at the Miami Grand Prix over Fernando Alonso, as Charles Leclerc brought out a red flag and prevented anyone from improving.
The Red Bull driver logged a time of one minute, 26.841 seconds thanks to the first flying runs in Q3 to take the early advantage on the timing board, as his teammate Max Verstappen went wide through Turn 5 and aborted his initial run – retreating to the pitlane.
Leclerc, meanwhile, tapped the wall on the exit of Turn 16 and then suffered a lock-up at the following corner, which proved only enough for seventh after the initial set of runs.
The two thus had work to do in order to move themselves up the order, and began their final runs to try and overturn Perez’s bid for a second pole position of the season.
While Leclerc began his lap in aggressive fashion, he overcooked it on the exit of Turn 6 and lost the rear to spin into the wall. This immediately brought out a set of double-waved yellows in the opening sector, but the session was red-flagged with one minute and 36 seconds left on the clock and Q3 was not restarted.
This confirmed Perez’s pole and denied Verstappen, who had topped both Q1 and Q2, a chance to bite back for pole, much to the defending champion’s frustration.
Alonso claimed his first front-row start of the season alongside Perez, thanks to his own strong performance after the opening set of runs – and hailed the Aston Martin’s balance as “perfect” following the session.
The two-time champion starts ahead of countryman Carlos Sainz on Sunday’s grid, as the Ferrari driver managed to produce a steady lap despite the opening set of runs. Kevin Magnussen joins him on the second row of the grid, the Haas driver nailing his first attempt as the team continued to look impressive throughout qualifying.
Magnussen, however, is under investigation for impeding Lewis Hamilton in Q1, when the Mercedes driver brushed the wall when avoiding the Haas.
Pierre Gasly took fifth ahead of George Russell, who broke through into Q3 by the skin of his teeth, while Leclerc was seventh fastest prior to his crash.
Esteban Ocon ensured two Alpines made the top ten, with Verstappen and Bottas failing to set representative times in the final part of qualifying.
Hamilton was the big-ticket elimination from Q2, only managing to secure P13 in the session as the Mercedes drivers spent most of the second part of qualifying in the drop zone.
Russell managed to progress into the top ten, but Hamilton was unable to extract the same degree of pace from the W14 and missed out on Q3 by two tenths, the seven-time champion feeling that the team went too late in search of progression to the final part of qualifying.
Alex Albon was dumped out of qualifying by Russell, who was just half a tenth ahead once the session came to a close, to deny Williams another shot at a Q3 berth.
Albon starts P11, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who was also unable to progress having sat in the top ten through most of the session. Hamilton starts Sunday’s race ahead of Zhou Guanyu, who could not join Alfa Romeo team-mate Valtteri Bottas in Q3, and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries.
Track conditions in Q1 rapidly improved in the dying stages of the session, creating a mad dash to the finish line as the margins were particularly tight among the midfield runners.
The McLaren and Mercedes duos were mired in the bottom five with a minute and a half to go, with both squads expecting to progress.
Both Mercedes drivers managed to grab competitive laptimes to progress, but Oscar Piastri could not break past the time and stamped his card for an early bath in the session.
Lando Norris meanwhile managed to get into P11, but improvement from the cars around him contrived to push him back down into the drop zone, ensuring he dropped out at the first stage.
Yuki Tsunoda qualified P17, while Lance Stroll also failed to coax his Aston Martin out of the bottom five and collected P18 for Sunday’s race. Piastri and Logan Sargeant completed the final row.
So a mixed up grid for the Miami Grand Prix with the Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc out of position. Overtaking around this track will be tricky but it will be fascinating to see the progress in the race.
Miami Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:26.841
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:27.202
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:27.349
4 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:27.767
5 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:27.786
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:27.804
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27.861
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:27.935
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull No time
10 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo No time
11 Alexander Albon Williams 1:27.795
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:27.903
13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.975
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:28.091
15 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:28.395
16 Lando Norris McLaren 1:28.394
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:28.429
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:28.476
19 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:28.484
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:28.577
Miami Grand Prix qualifying review as reported by Formula1.com.
Sergio Perez took pole position for the 2023 Miami Grand Prix after a dramatic conclusion to Q3, which saw Max Verstappen qualify ninth as Charles Leclerc spun out to bring out a red flag.
The top-10 shootout saw seven teams represented and, while Verstappen had topped the first two qualifying segments, he aborted his first lap with a snap at Turn 5. Conditions were tough in the final session as winds had picked up. Perez took provisional pole in Q3 with a time of 1m 26.841s, but there was still time for Verstappen to try again.
The reigning champion equipped new tyres and emerged with just over three minutes left in an effort to make it up from P10. However, Leclerc lost his car at Turn 4 and spun into the barriers, bringing out a red flag and ending qualifying early.
That left Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in P2 for the race while Carlos Sainz qualified third for Ferrari and Kevin Magnussen was a surprise fourth for Haas. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took P5 ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, leaving Leclerc seventh and Esteban Ocon eighth in the other Alpine.
As for Verstappen he qualified ninth ahead of Valtteri Bottas – neither driver having set a flying lap in Q3.
Alex Albon qualified 11th overall for Williams while Nico Hulkenberg was left 12th for Haas despite a promising Q1 performance.
Lewis Hamilton suffered his worst qualifying performance in the United States and first Q2 elimination since Monza last year with P13, having struggled through Sector 1 in the second segment of qualifying. Zhou Guanyu qualified P14 for Alfa Romeo, and Nyck de Vries managed P15 for AlphaTauri.
Q1 saw both McLarens eliminated with Lando Norris 16th and his team mate Oscar Piastri 19th. Yuki Tsunoda qualified a provisional 17th for AlphaTauri ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll – while home driver Logan Sargeant was last on the board for Williams.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.leclerc-spin-leaves-perez-in-pole-and-verstappen-starting-p9-for-miami-grand.NJpm2AySsEZBhgal6LOfn.html
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez says his Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix had been his “worst weekend” until he grabbed pole in qualifying.
Perez nabbed pole on his first Q3 run as team-mate Max Verstappen made a mistake and aborted his lap, with Perez leading Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso.
Leclerc then crashed on the second run, bringing out a red flag that ended the session without anyone getting a second lap on the board, locking Perez in for pole.
The result came as a surprise to the Mexican, who had been struggling for pace compared to his team-mate and the Ferraris until that point.
In Q1 Perez was third 0.350s behind Verstappen, while in Q2 Perez dropped to fifth over half a second in arrears. In FP3 he had also been half a second off the Dutchman.
“I think it’s been my worst weekend up to qualifying, really,” he said.
“I just couldn’t figure out how to pull those tenths that I was missing all the time to Max and to the Ferraris. I was just resetting everything.
“We did a small change into qualifying and everything became more alive. And I think with this tarmac we were just playing a bit with the tools, and we put the lap in when it mattered.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perez-miami-the-worst-weekend-until-f1-pole/10466168/
Max Verstappen admits he was “annoyed with myself” after a mistake in Q3 left him stranded in ninth on the grid for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
Having sailed through Q1 and Q2 at the head of the times, Verstappen made an error on his first run in Q3 and had to abort it.
That left him in ninth and at risk of remaining in that position should a red flag interrupt his second attempt, and that’s exactly what happened after Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari.
Despite his obvious frustration – exacerbated by the fact that Red Bull team-mate and title rival Sergio Perez earned pole position – Verstappen tried to remain upbeat, stating that he expected to recover to a “minimum P2.”
“Of course, that is unfortunate,” he said when asked about how Q3 had unfolded. “But first of all, of course, we didn’t do a lap. And that was my fault. But yeah, it was extremely tricky.
“I was a little bit offline out of six into seven, I felt a bit of understeer, and I just couldn’t get it back on the line. So I aborted my lap.
“And then of course, you need a bit of luck, hoping that there won’t be a red flag. But of course, when you try to think like that, then it happens. So, it’s a bit upsetting.
“I mean the whole weekend we have been really quick, my Q2 lap was fast enough even for pole in Q3. So, I guess that already says that we have a very quick car. But you need to put it together, and where it matters, we didn’t. And that’s a bit frustrating for my part.”
He added: “I’m still annoyed with myself, but I also know that tomorrow is a new day, a lot of things can happen.
“It’s not ideal, but there’s also no point now to be like super angry or upset about it. But you learn from it. You will do better again next time.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-annoyed-miami-f1-qualifying-mistake/10466236/
Charles Leclerc says the aggressive set-up for his Ferrari Formula 1 car was a “step too far”, which led to his Miami Grand Prix qualifying crash.
Leclerc endured an error-strewn Q3 session in his bid for a second successive pole position, stunting his first lap in the final part of qualifying with a lock-up at Turn 17 that only yielded the seventh-fastest time following the first set of runs.
Attempting to find more laptime, Leclerc lost control of the rear of his car at the sweeping Turn 6/7 and spun into the wall, almost repeating his FP2 crash when he locked up and ploughed straight into the barrier in the final part of the session.
The Monegasque explained that he took a risk with the set-up and, although he remains convinced that opting for a “difficult” set-up was the best way to extract the maximum from his Ferrari SF-23, he may have gone too far with that direction.
He acknowledged that he was being hard on himself after his mistake and conveyed his disappointment to crash out in qualifying.
“For sure I’m very disappointed with myself,” he said. “Same mistake as yesterday in the same corner. I also know that qualifying is my strong point and obviously I am taking more risk.
“In Q3 that pays off nine times out of 10. But obviously this is a weekend where twice I put it in the wall, and this is just not the level where I want to be.
“I obviously need to, in those weekends especially, just manage it differently in Q3. But at the end it’s like this.
“I think I put myself also in a difficult situation because I wanted a very aggressive set-up for qualifying, knowing that this was a set-up I will need to extract the most out of the car. I probably did a step too far, and this is something I’ll look at after the weekend.
“We know we have a weakness in terms of tailwind. Whenever we have tailwind, we suffer more from other cars. But I wanted that car to be very tricky because I knew that’s the way you need to drive this car. And today, it was too much.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/charles-leclerc-aggressive-ferrari-setup-miami-f1-qualifying/10466261/