Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez will start from pole during Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix at the Miami International Autodrome.
“Overall, I was happy with today, we delivered when it mattered and under a lot of pressure. It was good. We had a difficult weekend up until qualifying it has been a struggle. The track was improving but this tarmac has only recently been laid and is really sensitive, it has made things a little tricky so I needed that second lap,” Perez said.
Along with his fast lap of 1 minute, 26.841 seconds, Perez was able to capitalize his competitors’ misfortune during Saturday’s qualifying sessions at the Florida facility.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc spun late in the third qualifying session, bringing out the red flag. He officially qualified seventh. Defending race winner Max Verstappen also struggled in the final session of the day, despite topping the opening two qualifying rounds. As a result, Verstappen will start ninth.
“The initial problem starts with me today. I was taking the car to its limit and I made a mistake. I had to abort the lap and then you rely on a bit of luck that there won’t be a red flag. It’s painful and upsetting, we’ve been really quick all weekend, my fastest lap in Q2 would have been quick enough for pole which I think says that we have a quick enough car,” Verstappen said.
“Of course, I go into every weekend trying to win, but starting ninth is not the optimum position. My minimum target tomorrow should be P2. It’s going to be tough tomorrow for sure, but I made it tough for myself.”
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso put in a second-place effort in qualifying, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz came in third.
The only United-States based F1 operation — the Haas F1 Team — climbed up the board with driver Kevin Magnussen, qualifying fourth by turning a fast lap of 1 minute, 27.767 seconds on their home turf.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished fifth.