Max Verstappen delivered one his trademark qualifying performances and took pole for the 2025 Miami Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris in second while Kimi Antonello was third.
Verstappen proved that for now, fatherhood did not slow him down and blitzed the competition to take his third pole position in 2025.
The four-time Formula 1 champion survived a slight snap in Turn 1 on his final run in Q3 and was able to improve overall posting a 1:26.204 to go 0.065s faster than Norris who suffered a mistake at Turn 17, riding the kerb hard and unsettling his car.
Oscar Piastri had a messy final lap in Q3 and was bettered by the on-form Antonelli who snatched third place with the Australian and F1 drivers' championship leader settling for fourth. The Italian was just 0.002s behind Norris.
George Russell never felt comfortable in his Mercedes all weekend and in the end he could not achieve more than fifth place, 0.114s off the pace of his rookie teammate.
Williams had a decent day as Carlos Sainz was sixth fastest, 0.365s off the pace and 0.113s ahead of teammate Alex Albon who was seventh fastest in the sister car. The Thai is under investigation for pitlane infringement.
Ferrari endured a tough qualifying as Charles Leclerc was only good for eighth, over half a second off the pace while Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2, the first for the Briton since joining Ferrari.
Esteban Ocon was superb in the Haas, qualifying ninth as Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten over seven tenths off the pace of his teammate.
What the top three said
Verstappen cut a cheerful figure after qualifying, understandable after the disappointment of the Sprint Race earlier in the day.
"It’s been a great qualifying," he commented. "We improved the car a tiny amount as well, which helped me to basically rotate it a bit better. Honestly, Q1, Q2, Q3, just improving every run really, trying to find a bit more the limit.
"I had a tiny moment on my final lap into Turn 1, so I lost a bit of time there," he said of the snap. "But around here it’s just very complicated with the tyres over a lap. But in the end it worked out well, so I’m very happy to be on pole.
"I mean you can back out of it, but it’s qualifying so you have to try and correct it, and just floor it out of the corner," he maintained.
As for the Sunday's race, Verstappen said: "Let’s see. Race pace, I don’t know. We have to wait and see for the weather. It’s the best starting position, that’s always positive.
"And then in the race it’s a whole different story, but we’ll try to maximize everything we can," he concluded.
"Congrats to Max, especially being a dad now," second-placed Norris added. "I was hoping it would slow him down!
"I'm happy with today, happy with the progress I've made with the car. Max did a Max lap once again and I can't fault him. I'm happy and excited for tomorrow."
When his mistake in Turn17 was pointed out, Norris responded: "It's all should've, could've, would've stuff. I didn't deliver but the pace was there. The car has been feeling good, better than I have done the last few weekends.
"I've still not put it together but it is what it is. I'm ready to see what we can do into Turn 1 tomorrow. I don't mind if it's dry or wet but Miami has been surprising with the weather so I'm ready for both," he concluded.
Antonelli continued his strong form in Miami and said after qualifying third: "This weekend is going well so far. It was a bit disappointing this morning but it was good to bounce back this way.
"I struggled a little bit during the qualy, I didn’t have such a clean run like I had yesterday. But that last lap was quite good. I was a bit too greedy in Turn 1, but the rest of the lap was quite good, so I’m happy with it.
"The gaps are super tight, and definitely, if you can gain just a few hundredths, you can make up so many places. It’s really about putting everything together and so far this weekend, I’m doing that.
"Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race," the Italian concluded.
Q1: No major surprises
The skies cleared out ahead of qualifying which started in dry conditions with track temperatures registering 45 degrees Celsius while the air temperature was 29 degrees.
Unlike Sprint qualifying, the teams had a free choice of tyre and the Soft tyre was the compound they went for at the start of qualifying.
The teams would've had the chance to modify their setups as the regulations allow the removal of parc ferme conditions after the Sprint race, but the rain earlier also meant the rubber all the cars put down from the start of the weekend was washed out, meaning less grip.
The drivers head out to kick off the action and after a run from the midfield teams, the top drivers started with Verstappen going to the top.
Then Piastri went to the top while Norris was third with Hamilton in sixth as Russell and Antonelli were still completing their laps.
Russell aborted his first lap and pitted for fresh rubber. Antonelli also aborted his but then went fastest on his second attempt. Russell was only seventh.
The action ramped up with less than seven minutes remaining on the clock and in the end and Hamilton was under pressure after making a mistake on his second run, locking up heavily going into Turn 17 and was down in 15th.
In the end, Verstappen was fastest with a 1:26.870, 0.136s ahead of Piastri in second while Russell was third in the Mercedes.
Behind the top three the order was: Russell - Albon - Antonelli - Sainz - Hamilton - Tsunoda - Isack Hadjar - Gabriel Bortoleto - Leclerc - Jack Doohan - Liam Lawson - Ocon.
Eliminated in Q1 were Nico Hulkenberg who was 16th missing out to Ocon by a mere 0.023s and was ahead of Fernando Alonso who was 17th while Pierre Gasly was down in 18th.
Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman were 19th and 20th respectively.
Q2: Hamilton is out!
With no delays, Q2 was given the green light and the drivers made their way out on track with Verstappen being the first to start a flying lap with Leclerc and Tsunoda behind him as well.
Verstappen went fastest then Tsunoda went second only for Leclerc to take that position from him, but then Sainz dropped Leclerc to third while Hamilton slotted in fourth behind his teammate.
Albon then went second fastest and then Piastri jumped to the top while Norris was second behind his teammate.
In the meantime both Mercedes started their laps and Antonelli went third while Russell was 11th and complaining about lack of grip.
Order after first runs: Piastri - Norris - Antonelli - Verstappen - Albon - Sainz - Leclerc - Hamilton - Tsunoda - Bortoleto.
In the drop zone were: Russell - Ocon - Doohan - Lawson - Hadjar. Hadjar had no time on the board after aborting his first attempt.
The cars went back to the pits ahead of the second runs and Russell asked his team to send him out early as he had no confidence in his car.
"Get me out there early. Just no confidence in the car, mate. No grip, sliding everywhere," he said.
With less than five minutes remaining, the second runs were on, and surprisingly, Mercedes did not send Russell out early. He was in the middle of the pack. Piastri remained in the pits.
In the end of Q2, Piastri remained on top with a lap time of 1:26.269 with Norris 0.230s behind in second while Russell was third, 0.306s behind.
Behind the top three, the order was: Antonelli - Verstappen - Sainz - Albon - Leclerc - Tsunoda - Ocon.
Those missing out on Q3 were led by Hajdar who was 11th losing out by 0.020s to Ocon with Hamilton a surprising 12th in the Ferrari.
Bortoleto's journey was over in Q2, 13th fastest ahead of Jack Doohan in 14th as Lawson struggling with a battery issue was 15th fastest.
Q3: Verstappen denies Norris
The final ten drivers made their way out on track as the green light was given for the final shootout in Miami.
Verstappen went fastest with Piastri second behind him as Norris managed only second, 0.003s off provisional pole.
Antonelli then went fourth fastest with Russell only good for sixth. Leclerc had his lap time deleted for going off track at Turn 17.
The order after the first runs was: Verstappen - Norris - Piastri - Antonelli - Albon - Russell - Sainz - Ocon - Tsunoda - Leclerc.
With Verstappen on provisional pole, the drivers went back to their garages to prepare for the final runs in Q3.
With less than four minutes on the clock, the driver went back on track for the final attempt at setting the starting order of the Miami GP in the top ten.
Verstappen started first and improved his time as Norris and Piastri could not improve and were second and third respectively.
Antonelli then dropped Piastri to fourth taking third as Russell was fifth fastest in the Mercedes.
Sainz was a respectable sixth in the Williams ahead of Albon in seventh, with Leclerc eighth in the Ferrari while Ocon was ninth and Tsunoda was tenth.
In the end Verstappen secured his 43rd F1 career pole position.
Miami GP Qualifying Classification
Latest News
Loading
