Max Verstappen took his first Sprint pole of 2024, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by just over a tenth of a second in a tight qualifying session for the Sprint at the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix. Sergio Pérez took third place, but Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were eliminated at the end of SQ2.
At the start of SQ1 it was Pérez who took the early lead but the Red Bull driver was immediately bounced out of top spot by team-mate Verstappen who posted a time of 1:28.601 to eclipse the Mexican by eight hundredths of a second.
Pérez was then shuffled back to fourth as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took second, just 0.038s behind Verstappen, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Lando Norris, in the other McLaren, then bumped all four down a place by taking top spot with a lap of 1:27.939.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen then made a big jump, posting a lap of 1:28.377 to climb to third behind Verstappen, and the Danish driver’s time was followed by a slew of late improvements, with Piastri slotting into P2 behind Norris and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso moving ahead of Verstappen thanks to a final lap of 1:28.192.
At the bottom of the order there was no place in SQ2 for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who went out in P16, ahead of the Alfa Romeos of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas. The bottom two places were filled by Williams pair Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon. Thai driver Albon might have made it through but his final lap was deleted for a track limits infringement in Turn 15 and he exited in P20.
At the start of the second segment, Pérez again set the early pace. The Mexican posted a lap of 1:27.865 to take top spot a tenth of a second ahead of Leclerc and two clear of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo. However, Norris then appeared to once again bounce the Red Bull driver out of P1, with the McLaren going quickest of all with a lap of 1:27.597.
Verstappen opted for a single SQ2 run but after emerging with just over three minutes remaining, the Dutchman could only make his way to fourth place on the timesheet behind Leclerc and 0.121 ahead of Ricciardo. Piastri went through in P6 ahead of Alonso, the second Ferrari or Carlos Sainz, the second Aston of Lance Stroll and the 10th-placed Haas of Nico Hülkenberg.
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