Max Verstappen continues his domination in Miami. After two victories in Florida in 2022 and then in 2023, the reigning World Champion won his first pole position on this track, the sixth in six rounds this season. This performance confirms his pole position in sprint qualifying, which he converted into victory earlier in the day on Saturday.
But in a similar pattern to qualifying for the sprint race, the majority of drivers produced an inconsistent performance, with many members of the top 10 failing to find major gains in their final Q3 runs.
The time of 1’27”241 he set on his first timed lap in Q3 was good enough for pole after being unable to improve, while none of his rivals were able to dethrone him, Charles Leclerc was the closest, failing by only 141 thousandths. The majority of drivers struggled to achieve the ideal lap with the soft tires, hot conditions and slippery track surface leaving drivers in limbo, according to Verstappen.
“It was extremely difficult to achieve a lap where everything worked”he explained. “For one reason or another it was extremely difficult to get the tires to work the entire lap. This makes trying to do the perfect trick very difficult. Every lap was a bit of a guessing game with what was going to happen, so it doesn’t make the car very pleasant to drive.”
“I think we handled the situation well, we did our best and the car was, overall, a little nicer compared to yesterday. I think it’s quite hot but it’s very slippery here, the The tires don’t seem to be working well and when you combine all that it makes things really tricky.”
Despite his dismay, Verstappen was happy with the set-up changes made to his Red Bull since the sprint race, using the new rules for reopening the parc ferme between the sprint and the Grand Prix, which gave him a better feeling in his RB20. “I definitely felt more connected”he confirmed. “A little more predictable, which I hope will help me tomorrow in the race.”
After starting the sprint race with Leclerc on the front row alongside him and teammate Sergio Pérez in third, Verstappen will have both Ferrari drivers directly behind him on the grand prix starting grid, Carlos Sainz having taken third place ahead of Pérez. But the Dutch driver is not concerned about the Ferrari double threat at the start and remains confident of having a perfect weekend in Miami.
“The only thing we can control is ourselves and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”did he declare. “As long as I’m happy with my balance in the race, I think I’ll be fine. It just has to be a little better than what we had today in the sprint race. If we can do something like “That’s in a better window, so I’m sure we can be fast.”
With Haydn Cobb
