Carlos Sainz P3, Charles Leclerc P7 in Miami qualifying | 2023 Miami GP

Ahead of the qualifying session for the Miami Grand Prix, Ferrari team principal and general manager Frederic Vasseur spoke to Sky Sports F1 about how the Maranello team are progressing and what they need to do to close the gap on Red Bull.

“We have to stick to our plan and develop our platform,” Fred Vasseur said – “We have small parts on the car this weekend and it looks like it’s working so far, but we’ll have other upgrades at Imola and Barcelona. It’s not copying the Red Bull that we move forward, we need to understand what we are doing and continue with that.”

The FIA advised that there was a 30 per cent chance of rain falling during this Qualifying session. You wouldn’t believe it before the start of qualifying, with bright sunshine still beaming down on the circuit, but the weather could change very quickly in this part of the world.

Showers could have been the biggest threat to Max Verstappen taking pole this evening!

Qualifying was therefore go! The green light was on in the pit lane and Q1 is under way. Alex Albon was the first driver to head out. Nico Hulkenberg was too over-zealous on his opening flying lap and tapped the wall at Turn 16. His Haas was unscathed but that took a fair chunk out of his time. Sergio Perez led the way with a 1:28.306 – 0.118s ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, who was third-fastest. There’s a warning from his team though: “It’s looking pretty windy out there,” came the call from the pit wall.

Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!

Lewis Hamilton was slowest of the drivers to have set a time at that stage. The seven-time world champion was back in the pits after saying his front wing hit the wall on his lap. He hit the wall when trying to avoid hitting Kevin Magnussen at Turn 17. With 5 minutes to go in Q1, there was a near-miss for Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu as he got squeezed by one of the Ferraris and he shared his anger over the radio: “Man, the Ferrari just squeezed me,” he complained. “What is he doing?!”

18 of the 20 cars were on track for the final two minutes. They all had new soft tyres on too as the track is ramping up considerably and this was a crazy final few seconds. The two Mercedes got through to Q2 on their final laps, but Lance Stroll was the big surprise casualty of Q1 with the Aston Martin only P18. We also lost the two McLarens, Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargeant.

Green light was on again and Max Verstappen led the cars out for the second part of qualifying. Having had to use an extra set of soft tyres to get out of Q1, Mercedes were starting Q2 with used tyres on both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s cars. Max Verstappen set the first time of the session with a 1:27.110. Fernando Alonso then gave Aston Martin hope their pace hadn’t entirely disappeared with a lap three tenths off Max Verstappen’s benchmark. Sergio Perez had to abort his next flying lap after hitting the wall fairly hard on the entry to Turn 4.

All 15 drivers were out on track as Q2 entered its final two minutes, as Charles Leclerc set the best time of the session with a 1:26.964. Lewis Hamilton was out of qualifying in Q2, with the Mercedes man only managing 13th place. Replays show Lewis Hamilton’s car sliding all over the place through the early corners of the lap as he failed to improve. To confirm, these were the five drivers out in Q2: 11. Alex Albon (Williams), 12. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), 13. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 14. Zhou Ghanyu (Alfa Romeo), 15. Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri). Charles was P2 and Carlos P4, as both Ferrari cars were through to Q3!

Max Verstappen was definitely the man to beat as Q3 began, but Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were ready to take the challenge to Red Bull. The Dutchman had to bail out of his first Q3 flyer: it was gusty in Miami and the Red Bull driver was twitchy through the opening corners and decided to pull out of the lap. While his team-mate had to abort, Sergio Perez was pedal to the metal the whole way around and posted a 1:26.841 with his opening effort. Fernando Alonso was three tenths slower for second as things stood.

Charles Leclerc was on for a very good lap with the fastest times in the first two sectors, but unfortunately locked it up into Turn 17 and had to settle for the seventh-fastest time so far, which meant Sergio Perez was on provisional pole going into the final runs of Miami Grand Prix qualifying.

Sadly for the Maranello team, Charles Leclerc crashed out on his final run in Q3 and that was the end of qualifying, with Sergio Perez taking pole position for the Miami Grand Prix. Hopefully Charles didn’t damage the gearbox with that shunt. Race control announced Q3 would not be resumed after Charles Leclerc’s crash despite 1min 36s still being left, and that meant Sergio Perez was on pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso was second in the Aston Martin and, elsewhere, Kevin Magnussen will start fourth for Haas. Ferrari will start from third place with Carlos Sainz and from seventh position with Charles Leclerc.