Miami Gardens. Although he was not brilliant, the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) managed to get pole position in the race this Friday sprint of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix after a rather strange classification around the Hard Rock Stadium in the Capital of the Sun.
The three-time world champion and current leader of the World Drivers’ Championship will start ahead of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and his Mexican Red Bull teammate, Sergio Pérez.
“To be honest, I didn’t have a good feeling. In the last part of qualifying, it was very difficult to get the tires to work correctly. I didn’t improve my time much on the soft tires, but I’ll take this pole,” explained Verstappen.
“The car was not very pleasant to drive. However, I felt comfortable during free practice and convinced that we could fight for pole. But qualifying was not very good,” he added.
During Q3, the Dutchman almost lost control of his car on his only fastest lap, but that did not prevent him from setting the best time with 108 thousandths ahead of Leclerc.
The Monegasque came a long way since participating in the qualifying session with almost no reference points, as he barely drove during the only free practice session of the day.
The Ferrari driver spun on his fourth lap and was unable to restart, causing the session to be interrupted for around ten minutes.
For the road sprintof 19 laps, or a third of the duration of Sunday’s Grand Prix, Leclerc, who this weekend wears a sky blue suit and helmet, will have the difficult task of containing the other Red Bull of Pérez, who will start right behind him in the grill.
Ricciardo, grateful surprise
Verstappen, winner of four of the first five GPs of the season and the sprint from fifteen days ago in China, will once again be the great favorite.
The surprise of the qualifying session was carried out by the Australian Daniel Ricciardo when he finished in an unexpected fourth place at the wheel of his Racing Bulls.
However, the smiling Australian will have a difficult time maintaining that position in the race, as several big names will chase him, starting with the Ferrari of Spaniard Carlos Sainz, the McLaren of his compatriot Oscar Piastri, and the Aston Martins of Canadian Lance Stroll. and the Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso.
The Mercedes were also mediocre in the qualifying session and failed to get into the top 10, as the British George Russell and Lewis Hamilton only achieved the eleventh and twelfth best times.
The Miami Grand Prix, the sixth round of the season, is the second of the six rounds of the year that features a format sprintwhich alters the way the weekend is played.
As a result, the drivers only participate in a free practice session on Friday before qualifying for the race. sprint of Saturday. After this race, the drivers will take part in the classic classification, which will determine the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
#Verstappen #lead #Miami #sprint #race #Czech #start
– 2024-05-04 18:34:36
