Verstappen claims Miami GP sprint pole as Norris falters

Feature image credit: Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has claimed pole position for the Miami Grand Prix sprint race as McLaren’s Lando Norris falters in SQ3. 

Verstappen has claimed his first sprint pole of the season, in Miami, as he pipped Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to the top spot by a tenth of a second. 

During qualifying, it looked as if the three-time world champion would start second in the sprint race, behind Norris, as he was outqualified to the number one spot in SQ1 and SQ2. 

Despite this, the Dutchman bit back in SQ3 and clenched his first sprint pole position of the season, even though he had a slight mistake in turns; 13, 14 and 15.

“It felt pretty terrible,” commented Verstappen in Parc Ferme. “Maybe that last session was just incredibly difficult to get the tyres to work.

“In SQ2, I didn’t feel great. SQ3, I think, it just felt quite similar for me, I didn’t really improve a lot on the softs but somehow we were first.”

Norris looked to be on course to secure back-to-back sprint pole positions after he secured the top spot last time out, for the Chinese Sprint Race. 

The McLaren driver set the fastest laps in both SQ1 and SQ2 and looked on course to secure the fastest time in the final third. 

However, Norris couldn’t get his soft compound tyres to work in the shoot-out and finished Sprint Qualifying in P9. 

“I pushed too hard,” said Norris in a post-qualifying interview. “The car was feeling good. Yeah, just silly to be honest. A couple of mistakes in turn one and just a big spiral from there.”

To rub salt into the wound, Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri will start the race from P6. 

Verstappen will joined on the front row by Leclerc in the sprint tomorrow while, Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez will start in third.

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Visa Cashapp RB bring vibrant one-off livery to F1 Miami GP
• Ferrari dawn new livery ahead of Miami GP
• F1 technical legend Adrian Newey set to leave Red Bull Racing in 2025
• Hulkenberg leaves Haas at end of 2024 F1 season for Sauber
• Verstappen dominates to secure first-ever Chinese GP victory
• Verstappen secures Red Bulls 100th pole at Chinese GP as Hamilton sees Q1 elimination

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.