P1racenews AI automatic summary:
The Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell has a sprint qualifying to forget in Miami, but Max Verstappen would return to sprint qualifying form, taking his seventh pole position in eight from the 2024 F1 season so far.
“Max Verstappen secured pole position in the sprint qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix, surpassing Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, despite a challenging moment during his timed run, which he described as ‘terrible’. After missing out on pole in China, Verstappen redeemed himself in Miami, narrowly beating Ferrari by a tenth of a second. Daniel Ricciardo impressed by placing fourth in his RB, ahead of Carlos Sainz, McLaren, and Aston Martin. Lando Norris faced disappointment despite upgrades, only managing to outperform Nico Hulkenberg from Haas in the final sprint qualifying session, starting ninth for Saturday morning. During the intense 8-minute session, due to high track temperatures, drivers faced pressure with limited time for only one hot lap on the struggling Pirelli soft tyres. The sprint shootout session saw a quick emergence of 15 cars for SQ2, where Perez and Leclerc led after the first round of push laps, with Lewis Hamilton lagging in P11. Verstappen and Tsunoda opted to set just one lap time, Ricciardo hit the wall, and Norris led as drivers prepared for the final push runs. The tense SQ2 saw Ocon finishing 13th, while Hamilton and Russell faced setbacks, leaving Perez and Norris in the lead for the remaining 10 drivers. The session ended with Leclerc aiming for redemption after a challenging first timed run, as the focus shifted to the start of SQ1 with eight minutes remaining.”
