MIAMI | A Saturday to forget in Florida for Lance Stroll. Unless the beach and the waves at the end of the day in South Beach could make him smile again, on the track, it was difficult. After a sprint race exit from the first corner at the start of the afternoon, he struggled at the wheel of his Aston Martin in qualifying.
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The adventure in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix ended in the second segment, 22 thousandths of a second behind the Haas single-seater driven by Nico Hulkenberg. At the wheel of his RBF1, the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda also beat him to reach the third segment.
Stroll therefore missed this final qualifying segment for the third time in a row after biting the dust in Japan and China. In fact, he’s driven among the top 10 fastest cars only twice this season.
After the session, the Canadian blamed the performance of the car which he was unable to adjust to his liking earlier in the day due to a sprint race of only a hundred meters.
“I have no feeling in the car. It’s very tricky to drive and it was foreign conditions,” he explained in a 51-second flash press briefing.
He still beat his teammate Fernando Alonso by two tenths of a second. The Spaniard could not do better than the 15th time.
“It was a difficult day. And it will be a difficult race,” warned the veteran who took 17th place in the sprint race during the afternoon.
Verstappen: 6th pole
Of the six qualifying sessions so far this season, Max Verstappen has dominated them all. He will start from pole position at 4 p.m. tomorrow. The Dutchman already has four victories while he only missed the Australian Grand Prix due to a mechanical problem.
Three-time reigning world champion, he is closely followed by the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, his teammate at McLaren, complete the first three starting lines.
