Max Verstappen hit back from his point-less Sprint to upstage McLaren again in qualifying and head the grid for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix from Lando Norris.
The world champion, who became a father for the first time earlier this week, reproduced his Q3 heroics from Suzuka and Jeddah to deliver his third pole position of the year just hours after failing to score any points in the short-form Saturday race having been penalised when he collided with Kimi Antonelli following a Red Bull pit-stop blunder.
A mistake from Norris on the McLaren driver’s final lap at Turn 17, when his car became unsettled over the kerb, may have cost him at least the 0.065s that Verstappen beat him to pole by.
The Briton, though was still two places ahead of championship-leading team-mate Oscar Piastri, who dropped to fourth on the final laps after lapping slower than he did to set a blistering pace in Q2.
That is because Sprint polesitter Antonelli continued his statement weekend to take third.
Bouncing back from his own Sprint disappointment after finishing what became seventh from a record-breaking pole, the Italian teenager finished just 0.002s shy of Norris in second and 0.067s away from Verstappen’s pole.
Antonelli has now outqualified team-mate George Russell in both qualifying formats for the first time, the more experienced Mercedes driver again disappointed with his pace and lapping a tenth slower than Antonelli to take fifth on the grid.
But qualifying represented fresh disappointment for underperforming Ferrari.
Just hours after finishing in the top three for the second successive Sprint this season, Lewis Hamilton’s single-lap woes returned as he qualified 12th to bring up the first Q2 exit of his six-race Ferrari career.
Charles Leclerc made it through to the final stage in Q3 but was only able to manage the eighth-fastest time from there.
It meant Ferrari were not only outqualified by their usual three front-running rivals but Williams too – who took impressive sixth and seventh places with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon respectively.
Esteban Ocon took Haas into the top 10 with the ninth-fastest effort, finishing ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in 10th in the second Red Bull – the Japanese driver lapping a whopping 0.739s slower than Verstappen in the lead car.
New dad Verstappen delivers ‘a Max lap’ to deny Norris
While the earlier rain-hit Sprint may not have gone to plan, F1’s four-time champion looked in the hunt for the front row from the get-go in qualifying as he again took the fight to the pace-setting McLarens.
Setting the pace in Q1, Verstappen was only fifth quickest in Q2 – 0.374s away from Piastri’s impressive benchmark at that stage of the session – but found 0.4s on that effort to hold provisional pole at the end of the first laps of the decisive Q3 shootout.
Verstappen’s chances of improving on his benchmark on his final attempt appeared to have been compromised when he got a snap of oversteer at Turn One, but ended up delivering a 0.288 improvement thanks to a lap of 1:26.204 that neither Norris nor Piastri could match.
“Congrats to Max, especially being a dad now. I was hoping it would slow him down!! quipped Norris after the session.
“Max did a Max lap once again and I can’t fault him. I’m happy and excited for tomorrow.”
Reflecting on a “great qualifying” after making set-up improvements to his Red Bull after the Sprint, Verstappen said: “I had a tiny moment on my final lap into Turn One, so I lost a bit of time there. But around here it’s just very complicated with the tyres over a lap. But in the end it worked out well, so I’m very happy to be on pole.
“I mean you can back out of it, but it’s qualifying so you have to try and correct it, and just floor it out of the corner.”
Sky Sports F1’s Miami GP schedule
Sunday May 4
- 6pm: F1 Academy Race 2
- 7.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Miami GP build-up*
- 9pm: THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX*
- 11pm: Chequered Flag: Miami GP reaction*
- Midnight: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Miami for a Sprint weekend, watch it all live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
