Verstappen takes Miami pole position
Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen has secured yet another pole position by steadily improving through the three sessions to get that best starting position for the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. Lando Norris was a close second while Antonelli continued his strong performances of the weekend by ending up in third.
Qualifying started 15 minutes late due to the day's schedule having been messed up by the rain that forced the Sprint to be delayed. This then impacted the F1 Academy schedule and therefore also qualifying.
The action kicked off on a completely dry track though with no chance of rain. Bortoletto was the first to take to the track. While his initial lap was just a banker, his next one was actually quite strong and proved good enough for 7th on the board when just 4 minutes were left on the clock.
By then Verstappen had imposed himself to top the timing sheet followed by Piastri and Antonelli, the main contenders of yesterday's Sprint Qualifying as well. Sainz sat fourth and Norris fifth, followed by Albon who was desperately looking to bounce back after being disqualified from 4th in the Sprint earlier.
Hamilton and Alonso were surprisingly in the elimination zone. Clearly both hadn't been having the greatest laps with Hamilton notably messing up his lap with a big lockup at the end of the back straight after having set strong S1 and S2 times.
As the finish flag waved, Norris moved up into second despite touching the wall at Turn 16. Hamilton also comfortably made it through eventually by going 8th fastest. Charles Leclerc meanwhile only just made it through and avoided getting eliminated by a mere 0.05s.
For Alonso the form just vanished and after a strong Sprint Shootout and Sprint Race he found himself out in only 17th position. Still, the other Aston Martin with Lance Stroll at the wheel was even worse off, ending up 19th.
The early laps in the second part of qualifying suggested that Verstappen's reign at the top of the timing sheet might have been over with Piastri going faster than the Dutchman. Norris then followed it up with the best time in S2 to go second fastest. When Antonelli set his first flyer he moved into third himself, relegating Verstappen to fourth.
Albon and Sainz put Williams in 5th and 6th as the all blue cars provisionally had the upper hand on this weeekend's half blue Ferraris. Leclerc and Hamilton were 7th and 8th. Russell meanwhile struggled, reporting "no grip" and "no confidence", leaving him 11th and in need for improvement on that last attempt in the final minutes of the session.
As everybody but Piastri left the track in the last few minutes for another attempt, Ocon was the first of those in danger to complete his flying lap. The Frenchman improved by movced up into 9th only. Russell came up a minute later and somehow found half a second to move up into 3rd. The two went through, leaving Hadjar eliminated, along with Hamilton as neither driver managed to improve. For Hamilton, just like in Q1 it was all due to braking at Turn 17.
In Q3, Verstappen was out early once again and the first of the big guns to cross the finish line. Piastri was hardly any slower but ended up second, at least until Norris completed his lap, as little as 0.003s slower than the Red Bull. Yet again many drivers struggled to make Turn 17 with Norris clearly losing provisional pole there on his first flying lap. Leclerc meanwhile overshot it so much that his laptime was deleted for track limits, leaving him with no time on the board and all hopes on his final outing.
On the second outing Verstappen was again out first, setting a new benchmark for everyone as he improved another two tenths. Norris did the same later on, but less so than Verstappen, leaving him beaten by 0.065 seconds. Another strong lap by Antonelli secured the Mercedes rookie of third on Sunday's starting grid, followed by Piastri and Russell.
