Ferrari driver Charles Leklerk took the first pole position in a dominant performance at the Miami Grand Prix, following which he defeated fellow teammate Carlos Sains, third and fourth-placed Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
This is Monegasque Leclerc’s third pole position and twelfth in his career.
Verstappen lost momentum due to an error in his last attempt, and his attempt to improve Leklerk’s time of 1: 28.796 failed, which was 190 per cent faster than Science and 195 faster than Max.
Seco Perez’s time was 240 thousand slower than the pole, and again the first two rows will be dominated by competing teams.
Top 10: Walter Potts, Louis Hamilton, Pierre Casley, Londo Norris, Yuki Sunoda and Lance Stroll.
On Q3’s first attempt, Verstappen beat two Ferraris at 80,000 and Seko Perez was up for the fourth and a half seconds, but the second turn came in a determined search for polar position.
Initial lap tires need to take care of their temperature in case of overheating, second lap grip and performance may be lost.
Lance Stroll entered Q3 for the first time this season.
In Q1 Dominant LECLERC
In Q1, Charles Leclerc with 1: 29.474 confirmed Max Verstappen 0.362 and Seco Perez 05.81 in third place and Science Ferrari Red Bull in fourth place.
Luis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were at risk of not progressing until the last minute, but were fifth and sixth in their final flying lap, respectively.
Stroll, Sunoda, Russell, Ricardo, Schumacher, Vettel, Norris, Casley and Potas finished in the top 15.
Kevin Magnussen, Guanyu Zhou, Alex Alban, Nicholas Latifi and Estepan O’Keefe were not seen in the Q1 because his car was not ready after the P3 crash.
Russell stayed in Q2 and Norris was surprised
Charles Lecklerk was again behind Verstappen in Q2 and excelled with Lando Norris, finishing third with a solo effort.
Seko Perez finished fourth, followed by Science, Potas, Hamilton, Stroll, Sunoda and Casley.
Initially Ferrari tried it with tires used in a conservative strategy, but in the hope that it could do better in the Q3, they later pushed.
George Russell, who played the fastest on Friday, was soon out of 12th place. Others who have been eliminated are Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher.
