Max Verstappen continued his long-standing dominance of Formula 1 qualifying on Saturday, moving one victory away from a third straight victory at the Miami Grand Prix.
The three-time defending Formula One champion secured his seventh straight pole at Miami, where Verstappen won both of the races at Hard Rock Stadium despite not starting first.
“I don’t know what it is, every single year we come here I find it extremely difficult to be consistent with the car feeling, with the tire feeling over one lap,” Verstappen stated. “I believe we performed fairly well. Although it’s not the most fun lap in my career, the fact that we’re on pole is what matters most.”
Verstappen and Alain Prost shared the lead in starting the season with six straight poles thanks to the pole-winning performance. It was done in 1993 by Prost.
Verstappen radioed his team, saying, “Good start.” “Let’s keep it going.”
Verstappen won the sprint race to start the day and secured his 38th career pole at the end of it. The Red Bull driver beat the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc with a lap time of 1 minute, 27.241 seconds. He will start first on Sunday in the first of Formula One’s three races held in the United States.
Of the first five Formula One races this season, Verstappen has won four.
Red Bull colleague for Verstappen, Sergio Perez, qualified fourth. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who were probably disappointed with the enhancements brought to Miami, followed. The McLaren squad was hoping to go closer to battle with Red Bull and Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell of Mercedes qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, with Nico Hülkenberg of Haas and Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull’s junior squad following them.
Daniel Ricciardo, Tsunoda’s teammate, had a rough practice. Prior to finishing last in the first qualifying group, he was having a good weekend. In Friday’s sprint race qualifying, Ricciardo shown strength, and on Saturday, he placed fourth in the warm-up race.
In the field of 20 drivers, he qualified eighth, but he will start last due to a three-spot grid penalty he received in the F1 race that was held in China last time around.
Additionally, Logan Sargeant, an American driver from Pompano Beach, had a dismal qualifying day. While his employment with Williams is obviously in peril, Sargeant qualified 17th at his home track.
“Are we in now? In the hopes of moving past the first group, he radioed his team, saying, “Please tell me we are in.” The 23-year-old said, “That’s unfortunate,” after learning he had been eliminated.
The FIA is looking into Kevin Magnussen of Haas for acting in an unsportsmanlike manner during his previous Saturday sprint race. After receiving three penalties in the sprint race, Magnussen declared that everything was fair.