Leclerc against the wall will start seventh, Perez on pole ahead of Alonso and Sainz, Verstappen only ninth

The outcome of the qualifying of the Miami GP is more unexpected than could have been expected. In pole position is the Red Bull-Honda of Sergio Perez who will have the Aston Martin-Mercedes of Fernando Alonso at his side. Then, in the second row, the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and, incredible, the Haas-Ferrari of a sensational Kevin Magnussen. Max Verstappen who had dominated free practice and it seemed that conquering pole was the easiest thing for him, will start from the fifth row, ninth pitch. And what’s more, Lewis Hamilton, with that Mercedes that left on Friday, didn’t even get past Q2.

And Charles Leclerc? He is the director of everything that occurred in Q3. And yes, because after making a mistake in his first attempt, in the final flying lap, in the same corner where he went out and crashed into the guards in the second free session on Friday, he lost his SF-23 at very high speed, which after a couple of spins he hit the barriers with his rear. He was 1’23” away from the end of qualifying, which was immediately interrupted with the red flag, thus no longer giving any chance to the other riders on the track.

Gp Miami qualifying, what happened

Perez benefited from all of this, who occupied first place thanks to the time of 1’26″841 obtained in the first push and so did Alonso, second. Verstappen, like Leclerc, had missed his first flying lap on two occasions and had returned to box, so he didn’t even have a chronometric reference. Everything would have been played in the last minute, which never arrived for him and therefore he was ninth. Despite the bang, Leclerc had the seventh performance, albeit affected by that initial error and so it will start from the fourth row.

Ferrari consoles itself with Sainz, third and in the second row with the always fierce Magnussen. Perez will therefore start from pole (and to say that he had struggled with the set-up in all the free sessions, up to one last modification before qualifying) and has a not to laughable chance to take the victory in Miami and maybe even the lead of the championship standings. Alonso is already dreaming of the coup, while Sainz aims for the podium without ifs and buts. Perez’s time is 1’26″841, Alonso 1’27″202, Sainz 1’27″349.

Curious that the first three are all Spanish speakers. Looking at the times in the first sectors, Perez won in all three, but in the last one by just one thousandth over Alonso (24″755 against 24″756). Sainz was faster than his compatriot friend in the first two sectors (29″123 against 29″140, 33″113 against 33″125), but in the third he lost a tenth and three, 24″885 for the Ferrari driver, 24″756 for Aston Martin. And speaking of the green, bad qualification for Lance Stroll, 18th.

As for the others, Pierre Gasly did well with the Alpine-Renault, fifth ahead of a George Russell who at Mercedes got the better of Hamilton. Esteban Ocon also hit Q3 finishing eighth. Applause for Sauber-Ferrari entering Q3 with Valtteri Bottas, who then did not lap as he had bet on only one attempt in the final and is tenth. Out of Q3 instead, Guan Yu Zhou due to a mistake.

Just out of Q3 Alexander Albon with Williams-Mercedes and Nico Hulkenberg with the second Haas. Nyck De Vries finally did a good qualifying by beating his teammate Yuki Tsunoda and entering Q2 for the Alpha Tauri-Honda. Disastrous performance by McLaren-Mercedes who did not pass Q1 with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Sadly last was Logan Sargeant who got lost on this track right from free practice.

The starting grid

1 – Sergio Perez (Red Bull-Honda) – 1’26″841 – Q3
2 – Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin-Mercedes) – 1’27″202 – Q3
3 – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 1’27″349 – Q3
4 – Kevin Magnussen (Haas-Ferrari) – 1’27″767 – Q3
5 – Pierre Gasly (Alpine-Renault) – 1’27″786 – Q3
6 – George Russell (Mercedes) –  1’27″804 – Q3
7 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1’27″861 – Q3
8 – Esteban Ocon (Alpine-Renault) – 1’27″935 – Q3
9 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda) – no time – Q3
10 – Valtteri Bottas (Sauber-Ferrari) – no time – Q3
11 – Alexander Albon (Williams-Mercedes) – 1’27″795 – Q2
12 – Nico Hulkenberg (Haas-Ferrari) – 1’27″903 – Q2
13 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1’27″975 – Q2
14 – Guan Yu Zhou (Sauber-Ferrari) – 1’28″091 – Q2
15 – Nyck De Vries (Alpha Tauri-Honda) – 1’28″395 – Q2
16 – Lando Norris (McLaren-Mercedes) – 1’28″394 – Q1
17 – Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri-Honda) – 1’28″429 – Q1
18 – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin-Mercedes) – 1’28″476 – Q1
19 – Oscar Piastri (McLaren-Mercedes) – 1’28″484 – Q1
20 – Logan Sargeant (Williams-Mercedes) – 1’28″577 – Q1