Max Verstappen puts a ‘terrible’ car on pole for F1 Sprint at Miami Grand Prix

MIAMI — In retrospect, it was a beautiful little bit of honesty from Max Verstappen following Sprint Qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.

“To be honest with you, it felt pretty terrible.”

That is how Verstappen described his run which put him into P1 for Saturday’s Sprint Race.

That is the place we’re with the three-time Drivers’ Champion. Speaking with Naomi Schiff following qualifying he indicated that the car felt higher throughout observe than it did in the course of the qualifying session, however in the end Verstappen was once more in entrance of the sphere.

The car felt “terrible.” He thought observe was higher. He appeared pissed off all through the qualifying session.

And he nonetheless completed up entrance.

Just think about how the remainder of the weekend will go if he feels even marginally higher concerning the car than he did on Friday afternoon right here in sunny Miami.

Here are the total outcomes, in addition to another winners and losers from Sprint Qualifying right here at the Miami Grand Prix:

Winner: Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo is thought for having one of many brightest smiles on the paddock. But the smile we noticed throughout Thursday’s media classes in Miami had one thing completely different behind it.

Confidence.

Changes to the chassis on Ricciardo’s RB01 noticed him ship his greatest race weekend of the season within the Chinese Grand Prix, the place he superior to each Q2 and SQ2 within the two qualifying classes in Shanghai. While he completed P11 within the Sprint Race in China, and noticed a probability at factors within the Grand Prix ended after an affect from Lance Stroll, it was nonetheless a step ahead.

But he made a greater step ahead on Friday, pushing into SQ3 to advance to the third portion of qualifying for the primary time this season. And when the mud settled, Ricciardo was up in P4, and he’ll begin the Sprint Race tomorrow on the second row, alongside Sergio Pérez and simply behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

“I definitely felt a lot better in China and yeah, hopefully that’s the start,” stated Ricciardo to the media on Thursday, together with SB Nation. “But a lot of it comes out right here feeling and being comfy, ? There was, actually, one thing that when I hit the observe in China, I did really feel like I had a bit extra.

“So whether that is a physical change that maybe something chassis provided me, and it just gave me a bit more feeling of really what the car is gonna do. So that was good.”

China was good.

So far, Miami is best.

Losers: Mercedes

Earlier at the moment, some folks theorized that the upgrades Mercedes delivered to the Miami Grand Prix — particularly some new components to their flooring — would translate into some progress on the observe.

Me. The individual referred to above was me.

However, that was not the case in SQ2 as each Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had been eradicated. Perhaps extra worrisome for Mercedes? While Russell was in P11 and Hamilton in P12 in SQ2, they had been simply a hair forward of Esteban Ocon, driving for an Alpine crew that has but to open their account this season.

While there’s nonetheless a lengthy solution to go this weekend, this was not the Friday afternoon the Silver Arrows had been hoping for.

Photo by Song Haiyuan/MB Media/Getty Images

Winner: Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc barely participated within the single observe session forward of Sprint Qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix. A spin early in observe noticed Leclerc caught in Turn 16, and when he was unable to get his SF-24 circled after trying what regarded like a clumsy seven-point flip, the “Austin Powers” memes flooded social media.

Then early in SQ1 Leclerc had one other snap of overcorrection coming by Turn 7 and into Turn 8, and it regarded like his Sprint Qualifying session would possibly finish early.

It didn’t.

Leclerc completed in P2, a beautiful turnaround from the place his day started.

Literally, and figuratively.

Losers: Sauber

The week in Miami started with the information that Nico Hülkenberg can be driving for Sauber beginning subsequent season, forward of the crew changing into the Audi works outfit in 2026.

Friday introduced a double elimination for the crew in Sprint Qualifying, with each Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas knocked out in SQ1.

Not solely that, Zhou had a lap time deleted for exceeding observe limits at Turn 15, and there was a scary incident between Bottas and Oscar Piastri, who was on a push lap. Bottas radioed in that the warning from his crew got here late, and this would possibly e a a part of the feeling-out course of between Bottas and a new race engineer:

Sauber will now hope for a higher end to the weekend.

Losers: Williams

This was not the begin to the weekend that Williams hoped for.

Heading into the week there was a perception round Williams that the FW46 can be a stable car for the crew “Both drivers have highlighted this track as one that should suit the FW46, so we will have to be on top of our game on Friday morning,” stated Sporting Director Sven Smeets within the crew’s media preview.

“I’m not completely sure where we’re gonna be performance based, but like I said, I think this track can potentially suit our car better than a couple of the last ones we’ve been to,” stated Logan Sargeant to me earlier this week. “So a little bit of optimism there for sure.”

However, each Alexander Albon and Sargeant had been eradicated in SQ1, with Sargeant down in P19 and Albon down in P20, on account of a lap time being deleted for exceeding observe limits.

Currently there’s a lot of chatter across the paddock right here in Miami concerning the future at Williams. Reports surfaced on Friday that the crew had submitted to the FIA searching for a dispensation for Andrea Kimi Antonelli to be granted a Super License previous to his 18th birthday, probably to slip Antonelli into a seat at Williams earlier than anticipated:

Speaking at the Friday FIA Press Conference, Williams Team Principal James Vowles brushed apart the rumors that Antonelli was being eyed for Sargeant’s seat.

“Let’s put it this way. I haven’t spoken to Kimi since Abu Dhabi last year. Hopefully that puts it in context,” outlined Vowles. “I do know nothing about what’s going on at Mercedes’ assessments proper now. We are trying, as everybody else is, for the place we need to be on driver line-up for subsequent yr and now we have our personal younger driver program.

“In the case of Kimi, I can’t really adjudicate on the level he’s at. In case of him coming into the car this year, I’ve always said from the beginning, it’s a meritocracy. Logan has to earn his seat. And at the moment, he has some tough targets where he has to get much closer to Alex. But there is nothing on the radar at the moment for replacing him.”

While that matter stays to be clarified, one factor is obvious.

Williams’ day got here to an finish faster than they hoped.