It is difficult to remember a busier paddock or a more anticipated qualifying than today’s session for the Miami Grand Prix. America has certainly taken to Formula 1 and the atmosphere was palpable around the NFL stadium-surrounding circuit. The other reason, of course, this was an eagerly anticipated shootout was because the battle at the front seemed compelling, with Mercedes – while slow in final practice – seemingly in with a shout of the top positions with Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull.
That being said, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen remained the favourites ahead of the qualifying session for the Miami Grand Prix. It was still extremely hot and humid in Miami but the wind was picking up while there was also a small chance of rain, with thunderstorms never too far away from Miami.
Q1 began, which like usual would see the five slowest drivers eliminated after the end of the opening 18-minute segment. Carlos Sainz hit the front at the start of Q1, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Leclerc, but of course we got much quicker times than his 1:30.9 as the qualifying progressed. Very strong pace from the Ferrari F1-75 cars and specifically from Charles Leclerc, with his 1:29.4 four tenths quicker than Max Verstappen’s latest Q1 effort. That put them all safely through. Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Alex Albon (Williams), Nicholas Latifi (Williams), Esteban Ocon (Alpine, did not take part) were out in Q1.
So 15 drivers advanced to the next stage of qualifying, which was 15 minutes long and again saw the five slowest drivers eliminated. Mercedes and Ferrari were on used tyres in the early stages of Q2, with Red Bull on new tyres which gave them some extra pace in the opening minutes. Max Verstappen led after the first laps of Q2 with a 1:28.202, 0.4s up on Sergo Perez and another tenth clear of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. But as noted abovew, the Bulls did have a tyre advantage. The Ferrari drivers then returned on track with fresh tyres: the Monegasque went on the top of the timesheet after setting a 1:29.130, with the two Red Bulls behind him and teammate Carlos Sainz just behind in fourth. Fernando Alonso, George Russell, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher were eliminated in Q2.
We were into the 1:28s and it was Max Verstappen who did it in the start of Q3: a 1:28.991 for Max on his first lap of Q3 and there was just 0.08s between the top three of Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz! Sergio Perez was fourth, and Lewis Hamilton fifth ahead of Valtteri Bottas. It was a sprint to the pits then as the Ferrari drivers, just like the rest, put on some new tyres to find some extra pace.
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The Ferrari F1-75 cars lead the field back out onto the track as the top 10 cars all looked for a chance of history: it was Charles who set the first flying lap and he went onto provisional pole with a 1:28.786, as his teammate Carlos Sainz was just behind him! The lap time set by the Monegasque driver could not be matched by Red Bull which means that Charles Leclerc will start the 2022 Miami Grand Prix from pole! A great result also for Carlos Sainz, who will start the race on the front row, alongside his Maranello teammate. Lewis Hamilton starts in sixth, with Verstappen in third after those late troubles.
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