Miami GP: Perez on pole in shocking mixed up grid

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has secured pole position while, teammate, Max Verstappen is set to start from ninth after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed out late on in Q3.  

Q1

As the pack waited for the pit exit light to go green, to signal the start of qualifying, Williams’ Alexander Albon was the first driver to venture out onto the Miami circuit. Home hero, and Albon’s teammate, Logan Sargeant soon followed suit as the remainder of the pack filtered out.

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg nearly had a kiss with the wall on his first timed lap. On the exit of turn 16 the German had a slap of oversteer and tried to power through it but, under traction, Hulkenberg nearly collided with the concrete barrier. Fortunately, Hulkenberg was able to continue down the back straight with no issues.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had to quickly return to the pits after the seven-time world champion connected with the barrier on the corner entry of turn 17. Magnussen was seen on a slow drive, preparing for his fast lap in the final corners as the Mercedes barrelled down the back straight.

Due to the close encounter, Hamilton and Magnussen were noted and under investigation for impeeding. This was shortly followed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou after the Ferrari driver impeeded the Alfa on the exit of turn seven.

In the final moments, Verstappen was the only driver to remain inside his pit box with a comfortable time of 1:27.363 while the remainder of the pack were out putting in lap after lap. Those at risk of being eliminated out of Q1 included both McLarens and Mercedes drivers who were inside the elimination zone.

However, the two Mercedes were able to jump out while the McLarens were shown the door early.

At the same time, Sargeant was the slowest driver of the bunch to qualify 20th ahead of his first ever home F1 race.

Eliminated:

20. Logan Sargeant, Williams

19. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

18. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

17. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

16. Lando Norris, McLaren

Q2

Ahead of Q2, a number of incidents have been deemed with ‘no futher action’ as their conclusion which included the; Sainz/Zhou incident, Tsunoda’s pit lane release with Hulkenberg – a potential unsafe release – and a moment between Magnussen and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

However, Hamilton and Magnussen’s incident was still up in the air.

Back to the qualifying action, Verstappen and Perez were the first two drivers out on track as they patiently waited for the pit exit light to return to green. The Red Bull pair were out on fresh soft tyres while the likes of the Mercedes and Haas drivers were out on used compounds.

Both Mercedes drives and Magnussen were over one second behind Verstappen’s time and began to drop down the oder as more drivers put in faster times.

Verstappen put his foot to the floor to put in a beautiful lap with a 1:27.110, two tenths clear of his teammate – yet three tenths away from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Alonso had a heart-in-mouth moment in the final moments of Q2. The two-time world champion drove out of his garage to put in some more qualifying laps but quickly interuppted by the Haas of Hulkenberg. The incident joined the ‘noted’ list for race control to potentially investigate.

No further action was the

Hamilton is out in Q2 and will start the Miami GP in 13th. The Mercedes driver struggled with oversteer at both turn one and 17 which cost him a place in Q3 to provide his worst qualifying result in the US.

The seven-time world champion blamed it on the timing of when he returned to the circuit but replays showed the W14 struggling to stick firmly to the asphalt.

Eliminated:

15. Nyck De Vries, Alpha Tauri

14. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo

13. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

12. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

11. Alexander Albon, Williams

Q3

Christian Horner, Red Bull’s Team Principle, confirmed Perez’s car was okay after the Mexican had a brush with the wall into turn four. The Mexican was out on the track with fresh soft tyres, as was his teammate: Verstappen.

Perez as on provisional pole position after Verstappen abandoned his lap with a couple of moments in the first sector which placed the Dutchman down in ninth ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also had a moment in turn 17 as the Monegasque locked up and placed him in seventh after everyone – bar Verstappen and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who were yet to put in a lap time.

After a brief stop in the pits, the remaining top 10 drivers returned to the circuit to put in their final laps to try and fight for pole. However, qualifying was brought to a premature end as Leclerc crashed out.

As the first driver back out out on track, Leclerc put his foot down in a bid to overthrow Perez from pole position. However, as the Monegasque barrelled towards turn six his Ferrari slipped underneath him and spun out. Leclerc rotated, in an uncontrolled manner, a couple of times before he slammed rearwards into the barrier, and retired out of qualifying.

Due to the amount of time left on the clock, Q3 was not resumed and Perez naturally took pole position ahead of Alonso and Sainz who will start second and third respectively. The defending world champion, Verstappen, will start ninth ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

Top 10:

10. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

9. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

8. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

7. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

6. George Russell, Mercedes

5. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

4. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

3. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

2. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

1. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

That’s all for the article: Miami GP: Perez on pole in shocking mixed up grid!

Who do you think will secure the win on Sunday? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Miami GP: Live coverage of FP3
• 2023 Miami GP: FP1 Live Coverage
• EA F1 23 to release June 16 featuring Las Vegas Circuit and return of Braking Point
• F1 Race Report: Perez becomes first two-time winner in Azerbaijan!
• FIA to reconsider protocols after close encounter with Ocon in Azerbaijan GP
• LIVE: Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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