F1 Grand Prix, GP Miami, Miami

Having been classified last in the sprint race because of a penalty for an error that was not really his fault, Max Verstappen went on to set the fastest time in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers teams' and drivers' reactions.

McLaren

Lando Norris, Sprint: 1st, Qualifying: 2nd, 1:26.269
“A good day on track with an important Sprint victory and positive Qualifying position. I’m happy with my performances and the progress I’ve been making with the car this weekend. It’s been feeling good, and I’ve taken positive steps forward in every session.

“I’ll continue to work hard with my team overnight as Miami seems to be full of surprises but I’m ready for anything, and keen to see what we can do into Turn 1 tomorrow.”

“It’s been a bit of a frustrating day, but there are positives as we head into race day tomorrow. This morning I did all I could to win the Sprint, but unfortunately the timing of the Safety Car just took it away from me. However, the team did a good job in tricky conditions, and P2 in the Sprint was still a positive result.

“Unfortunately, this afternoon I just fell out of the rhythm at the wrong time and wasn’t able to put a good lap in during Q3. It’s a shame as my pace in Q2 was strong and proved there were a few more positions on offer. Tomorrow is another day and the pace in the car is good, so we’ll try to make up those positions in the race tomorrow.”

Red Bull

"To achieve pole today was unexpected. We put the lap together and didn’t make too many mistakes so that was really positive. The day didn’t start that well and the Sprint was not good for us. There wasn’t much we could do after the penalty, so you just have to refocus and do your best in Qualifying and we went from last to first within the day.

"We had adjusted the car a little bit beforehand and in each Qualifying session we just chipped away at it a bit more. I think we can still improve on the slow speed and I do think that we are not the quickest over a lap but we managed to put it together, which is the most important thing in Qualifying. When you arrive to the track you go to race mode and of course, I’m very happy about achieving pole. At the end of the day it is all a Team effort; you have to look at every single detail and we are really trying our best with the car.

"Looking to tomorrow, in the dry we wouldn’t have that same pace but in the wet a lot of things can happen, but we need to be on it. We have some decent pace, but we need to maximise everything that we can. We will see what we can do."

Yuki Tsunoda, Sprint: 6th, Qualifying: 10th, 1:26.943
“I was expecting more from Qualifying, but the Sprint was a good recovery, so it’s mixed feelings for me today. The positive thing is I scored points in the Sprint and if I can go from the pitlane to P6 in the Sprint, then anything is possible. I gave it my all out there in qualifying, in previous qualis I have made some mistakes and I felt like this one was pretty clean, so I am a little disappointed it was only good enough for P10.

"The lap was alright but we definitely have a bit more to find, I don’t want to be in a bad mood and to keep overthinking it, it’s hard but we can’t think that straight away we will be top five. Gradually I am improving race by race, so I did want a bit more today, but we have to be patient. The pace in the long run in FP1 wasn’t great but we have adapted the set-up and the car is different now, so I can maximise better in the race when it counts and I feel confident in it.

"The rain mixed things up in the Sprint and we don’t know what is going to happen with the weather on Sunday yet. I made up 14 places today so tomorrow I only have nine cars to go! I want to score good points; I will stick to my positivity and do my best."

Mercedes

"Qualifying has been a strength of mine since the beginning of the season, but it has not clicked for me either yesterday or today. I am therefore relatively happy to take P5 on the grid for tomorrow’s race because we know how tight the field is. To end up just under two tenths from pole is a bit of a surprise given the confidence I’ve been lacking on the single lap.

"The car is obviously quick as Kimi did another great job in Qualifying. I am really proud of how he has performed; he has been consistent, and we’ve got another chance to score some solid points for the team tomorrow.

"We will reset tonight, and I’ll make sure I am performing at my best tomorrow. The Sprint was a little disappointing as we finished only one place ahead of where we started by virtue of a time penalty.

"We should have perhaps made the call to go to slicks earlier and we could have gained a couple more positions. That said, the Grand Prix is where the big points are scored. It may be mixed weather conditions again and we will be ready to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way."

"I've felt confident with the car throughout this weekend, and it was good to convert that into another strong qualifying result. I struggled a little bit in Q1 and Q2, not having as clean a run as I had in Sprint Qualifying yesterday.

"My last lap in Q3 was my best effort today though. I was a little greedy in Turn 1, but the rest of the lap was quick. The gaps at the front are incredibly tight and even a few hundredths can make a difference. I am happy with how my lap was though and P3 is a good place to be starting from for tomorrow's Grand Prix.

"The Sprint race was a little disappointing this morning. I lost several places at Turn 1 and then was unfortunate with the contact with Verstappen in the pit lane. We had the opportunity and the pace to have a stronger result, but it was good to bounce back later in the day. We will be aiming to have a cleaner race tomorrow and see what we can do."

Ferrari

"It’s been a tough weekend so far. This morning wasn’t a great start, and in qualifying, I expected to have a chance to turn things around. We just don’t have the pace and the grip our competitors have and a track like this reveals this weakness even more. This is not the result we want as a team and there’s a lot of work ahead of us."

"Today was definitely an eventful one. We put in a strong performance in the Sprint, which was a great result given the challenging weather and our starting position. I suggested the switch to softs, and the team executed a fantastic pit stop, that really made the difference.

"Qualifying was more difficult; we lacked grip and overall pace, and P12 isn’t where we want to be. But we’ll go through everything overnight and look at how we can optimise the strategy to fight back tomorrow."

Williams

"Today was disappointing. It’s hard to go into a Qualifying session straight after receiving a penalty in a really strong Sprint race. You try to shake it off and go again but it’s difficult. I think I did it though! I rose to the challenge, I’m pleased with P7 and having both cars in Q3 is great for the team. Our pace is super strong and this will help us a lot tomorrow. We can do a good job in the race, we just need to keep it clean."

"I’m very happy with that Qualifying result. I’ve felt good in the car since FP1 and I knew I was fast this weekend, so it feels good to have a clean session and extract the maximum out of the car. The weekend is not over yet and we still need to deliver a perfect race if we want to pick up some good points, so full focus on tomorrow."

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso, Sprint: DNF, Qualifying: 1th, 1:27.604
"A difficult day. In Qualifying, we just didn't have the pace to proceed to Q2, so it will be a challenge to score points tomorrow. We need to better understand the issues and find some pace.

"In the Sprint, I was having a perfect race and felt competitive. We should have taken dry tyres earlier, but we were still going to score points when Lawson made contact with me.

"Thank you to the team on the ground who helped repair the car before Qualifying: the mechanics always perform at the top level so thanks to them."

"We know we don't have the pace currently and finished Qualifying as we expected. We made some positive set-up changes following the Sprint and the car felt the best it has been all weekend, but we know we are just not quick enough.

"So it felt really good to get a decent result in the Sprint earlier today. It's the little wins at the moment, and it felt like everything fell into place, with lots of opportunities and some good decisions. But we're not where we want to be right now and need to find more pace."

Racing Bulls

"This morning, I raced my first proper F1 race in the wet, so everything was new for me. The start of the Sprint wasn’t good, but we’ll review it ahead of tomorrow’s main race. Then, for the rest of the race, I think our pace wasn’t good enough. Probably pitting a couple of laps earlier would have been better, but it’s always easy to say it once you're looking back.

"As for qualifying, it was frustrating today. I think we had a good enough car to go through to Q3, but unfortunately we missed it by only a couple of hundredths. Just being a few places in front would have been better for tomorrow, but that’s part of the game. It isn’t exactly the session we wanted, but I feel like I did my best during my lap.

"It seems we’re still losing most of the time in the chicane section, so we’ll have a look at it to understand where we can improve. It should be raining tomorrow or at least mixed conditions at some point, and starting from P11, I believe that with a good start and strategy, we can fight for points.”

Liam Lawson, Sprint: 13th, Qualifying: 15th, 1:27.363
“We had a good start in the Sprint race and I managed to make some overtakes on lap one. The pace was ok, but everyone was struggling with the track drying. Alonso was obviously coming out on cold tyres and I stayed behind him and waited for DRS.

"The contact with Alonso wasn't intended and resulted in an unfortunate incident. The penalty is a really tough one to take because other than that it was a great start to the weekend. When it came to Qualifying, we clearly had a battery issue during the session which meant the car wasn't getting full power.

"It's a shame because we found a good step in the car today. We're hopeful that we can fix the issue before tomorrow and the weather is definitely going to impact expectations for the race. We go again tomorrow.”

Haas

Esteban Ocon, Sprint: 12th, Qualifying: 9th, 1:26.824
“It was a frustrating Sprint race because unfortunately we were constantly looking behind. We just didn’t have the pace, struggling with understeer, braking and front tire temperatures, as we destroyed the tires after five or six laps, and from then, there wasn’t really much to fight for. I think we maximized our qualifying, we really got ourselves in there.

"We did overcome some of the issues, I think there are still some more, but that’s very good as it means there’s a lot of potential in the car. I’m really proud of everyone’s work, we didn’t give up, and although it was a tricky session, we got the car to where it should be. We need to keep that going and hopefully bring the car back home inside the top 10.”

“I didn’t have the feeling and I didn’t put the lap together, it was too messy of a lap. I probably didn’t have the best run plan only using two sets of tires, so I did my second lap on the used, which is quite different to then going onto the new on the end. We didn’t change the car, I was happy with it, so it hurts a little. Our race pace is good, but sorry to the team.”

Alpine

“It is not the Qualifying result we had hoped for. We made a few changes to get the car in a better place for this session but in the end, we were not fast enough on all the runs so we need to analyse why we lacked in performance. There are some other details to look at, as the car did not feel the same as previously in the weekend.

"There was also a bit of traffic on my last run. I was the first to come out on my run and that meant I had traffic in the first sector. Nonetheless, my runs were clean, but we just did not manage to be fast enough. It is good to get a point from this morning’s Sprint Race after some cars got penalties, we moved up to P8. Now we can sit down as a team and work on preparing for tomorrow’s race.”

Jack Doohan, Sprint: 16th, Qualifying: 14th, 1:27.186
“It was a better end to Qualifying today. Of course, it would have been great to progress through to Q3, but I felt the car was in a good window and we pushed to get what we could out of the session.

"We were on the pace quite quickly in Q1 and our first sector was quite strong. With such close margins across the grid, it is the small things which come into play to make the difference between positions. We will debrief tonight to see what gains can be made and see what is possible tomorrow.

"The weather is looking like it will rain again so we will look to take advantage of anything which could come from that. The aim will be to hold onto our position and set ourselves up to optimise the opportunities that arise for us to progress forward.”

Kick Sauber

“Today has not been the best Saturday. After the promising performance in yesterday’s Sprint qualifying, I didn’t meet my expectations for both the Sprint and for qualifying. In the Sprint I lost ground in the first lap, which made it very difficult to recover in such a short event, even though I ended up in P9 after a few penalties to other drivers.

"Turning to this afternoon’s qualifying session, Q2 would have been possible: however, on my last lap, the rear of my car snapped a bit at the exit of Turn One and I lost two to three tenths of a second, bringing less momentum into the long straight. I tried to make up the time in the last sector, which unfortunately didn't work out. Now we have to look ahead and prepare for the race.”

“I’m genuinely happy to be back in Q2 with a solid performance after some tough rounds in which I wasn’t able to show our full potential, but there’s still a tinge of frustration as I think we had a chance to be even higher – perhaps even in Q3. Today felt like a step forward – the team did a great job with the car, I felt comfortable and able to build confidence throughout the session, run after run.

"My second push in Q1 was probably the best lap I’ve done all weekend; the car was in the perfect window. I made a small mistake in my final Q2 run, but no one ever puts together a perfect lap here. Overall, it was a decent job. Most importantly, I feel we were able to put it all together in qualifying and show the pace we have, which is something we haven’t been able to do consistently so far this season.

"To do so today and show what the team, the car, and I are capable of means a lot. Now the focus is on tomorrow: starting P13, with a chance of rain and a few surprises likely, everything is possible. Others have scored points from these places on the grid, so we’ll give it everything tomorrow and aim to bring home a strong result."