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

MIAMI — Looking back, it was Max Verstappen’s surprising sincerity after sprint qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.

“I felt pretty terrible, to be honest.”

Verstappen described his run in Saturday’s sprint race, which saw him move into first place.

That’s our position as three-time drivers’ champions. Speaking to Naomi Schiff after qualifying, he said that the car felt better in practice than during the qualifying session, but in the end Verstappen was at the front of the field again.

The car felt “terrible”. He thought he had better practice. He seemed frustrated throughout the qualifying session.

And he still finished at the front.

If your car feels any better than it did on a Friday afternoon here in sunny Miami, just imagine what the rest of the weekend will be like.

Here are the full results and other winners and losers of the Miami Grand Prix sprint qualifying:

Winner: Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo is known for having the brightest smile in the paddock. But the smiles we saw during Thursday’s media session in Miami meant something else.

Confidence.

Ricciardo’s RB01 chassis changes saw him have his best weekend race of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix, qualifying for both Q2 and SQ2 in the two qualifying sessions in Shanghai. He finished 11th in the sprint race in China and thought he had a chance to score points in the Grand Prix, which ended with a shock from Lance Stroll, but he was still a step away.

However, they took another big step forward on Friday, advancing to SQ3 and advancing to the third qualifying stage for the first time this season. When the dust settles, Ricciardo has moved up to fourth place and will start tomorrow’s sprint race on the second row alongside Sergio Perez, just behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

“I definitely felt a lot better in China, so yeah, I hope that’s where it starts,” Ricciardo told media outlets on Thursday. SB Nation. “But there’s a lot of feeling and comfort here, right? To be honest, once I went to the Chinese circuit, I felt like there was a little more leeway.

“So maybe it’s the physical changes that the chassis gave me, and it gave me a little more feel for what the car was actually going to do.” So that was good. . ”

China was good.

Miami is better so far.

Loser: Mercedes

Earlier today, some theorized that the upgrades Mercedes brought to the Miami Grand Prix, particularly the introduction of some new elements to the floor, would result in some progress on track.

myself. The person mentioned above is me.

However, that was not the case in SQ2 as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were eliminated. Perhaps more worrying for Mercedes? Russell was 11th and Hamilton 12th in SQ2, just ahead of Esteban Ocon of the Alpine team, who has not yet opened his account this season.

There’s still a long way to go until this weekend, but this wasn’t the Friday afternoon the Silver Arrows were hoping for.

Photo credit: Song Haiyuan/MB Media/Getty Images

Winner: Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc barely participated in the practice session ahead of the Miami Grand Prix sprint qualifying. “Austin Powers” memes flooded social media when Leclerc got stuck in Turn 16 in a spin early in practice and was unable to turn his SF-24 around despite what appeared to be an awkward 7-point turn. Ta.

Then, early in SQ1, Leclerc had another moment of overcorrection between Turns 7 and 8, and it looked like his sprint qualifying session was coming to an early end.

It didn’t.

Leclerc finished second, making a remarkable comeback from the start of the day.

Literally and figuratively.

Loser: Sauber

The week in Miami began with the news that Nico Hulkenberg will drive for Sauber next season, ahead of the team becoming Audi’s works team in 2026.

In Friday’s sprint qualifying, the team had a double elimination, with Chou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas both knocked out in SQ1.

Not only that, Zhou had his lap time canceled for exceeding track limits at turn 15, and there was a scary incident between Bottas and Oscar Piastri, who was doing a push lap. Bottas radioed that the team’s warning was delayed, and this could be part of a reconciliation process between Bottas and his new race engineer.

Sauber will be hoping for a better finish this weekend.

Loser: Williams

This was not the start to the weekend that Williams had hoped for.

Heading into this week, there was confidence around Williams that the FW46 would be a solid car for the team. “Both drivers emphasized that this track is suitable for the FW46, so on Friday morning we We need to be on top of our game,” said sporting director Sven Smeets during the team’s media preview.

“We’re not entirely sure what kind of performance base we’re going to base it on, but like I said, this course is potentially more challenging for our car than some of the courses we’ve done in the past. I think it’s a good fit,” Logan Sargent told me. Early this week. “So there’s definitely a little bit of optimism.”

However, as their lap times were deleted due to exceeding track limits, both Alexander Albon and Sargent were eliminated in SQ1, with Sargent in 19th and Albon in 20th.

There’s a lot of talk around the paddock here in Miami right now about Williams’ future. On Friday, reports emerged that the team had applied to the FIA ​​to grant Andrea Kimi Antonelli a superlicence before his 18th birthday, potentially leading to Antonelli slipping into the Williams seat sooner than expected.

At Friday’s FIA press conference, Williams team principal James Vowles dismissed rumors that Antonelli was eyeing Sgt.

“Let’s put it this way: I haven’t talked to you since Abu Dhabi last year. I hope this gives you some context,” Vowles outlined. “Right now, I don’t know anything about what’s going on with Mercedes testing. Like everyone else, we’re trying to figure out where we want to be in next year’s driver line-up, and we’re making our own decisions. We have a young driver program.

“In Kimi’s case, I can’t judge exactly what level he is at. If he gets into the car this year, as I’ve always said from the beginning, it’s a meritocracy. He has to earn a seat. And at the moment he has some tough goals that he has to get closer to Alex. But at the moment there are no plans for his replacement.”

This issue is still unsolved, but one thing is clear.

Williams’ day ended sooner than they expected.