Max Verstappen managed to take pole position for Saturday's Miami GP Sprint race, but the Red Bull driver admitted that it had been a struggle to get fully up to speed during the qualifying session.
Charles Leclerc recovered from his practice spin to claim second place on tomorrow's grid ahead of Sergio Perez, while Daniel Ricciardo was a surprise fourth fastest for RB.
Lando Norris had earlier looked the biggest threat to Verstappen, but he suffered oversteer in the first sector of his crucial SQ3 lap. Mercedes had another terrible day with neither George Russell nor Lewis Hamilton making the final cut.
For the second race weekend in a row, Formula 1 was locked into the Sprint format. After a single practice session topped by Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, it was straight into qualifying for Saturday's 19-lap race.
SQ1: Norris and Piastri quickest, William miss the cut
The weather was still hot and sunny as the cars limbered up on pit lane on mediums as mandated by the Sprint rules. Leclerc was quick to hit the track to make up for the time lost by his early spin in FP1 only to quickly have a another scare at the same place. This time he was able to continue.
Once the Red Bulls got involved, Verstappen went top with a time of 1:28.601s ahead of Piastri who had managed to jump ahead of Sergio Perez for third. Alonso tapped on the wall on his run but avoided any damage to the Aston Martin., and Leclerc finally got his eye in and went third.
Piastri was pushing hard, nearly making contact with Valtteri Bottas turning in on him into turn 1, the Finn apparently unaware of the fast approaching McLaren. Fortunately disaster was averted, but the stewards immediately flagged it for a full investigation. Meanwhile Norris had gone fastest, a time of 1:27.939s proving a tenth quicker than Piastri. Alonso was up to third ahead of Verstappen, with Haas' Kevin Magnussen fifth ahead of Russell.
The important business was who would finish in the bottom five and be eliminated. Nico Hulkenberg was just on the bubble but survived ahead of Pierre Gasly and the Saubers of Zhou and Bottas. The two Williams were bottom, Albon having locked up and cut the apex of the chicane in turn 14 meaning his time was deleted for exceeding track limits.
SQ2: Norris stays top, both Mercedes drivers fail to make final round
The second ten minute round saw Haas duo Magnussen and Hulkenberg lead the way on mediums with Verstappen and Tsunoda holding back. Perez soon took command of the session with a lap of 1:27.865s put him ahead of Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo, who had brushed the wall but got away with it without harm to the RB.
Norris went 0.268s quicker than the Mexican but Verstappen was now in play with four minutes to go. He was content to make just a single run which saw him go safely fourth. Other drivers were scrambling to improve their times but both Mercedes drivers fell short with Lewis Hamilton glancing the wall in turn 16 on his run. They duly joined Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda on the sidelines.
SQ3: Verstappen pips Leclerc to pole, Ricciardo flies to fourth
No one was in a rush to get moving in Sq3 with the mandated softs meaning there would be time for a single all-or-nothing hot lap. Right on time, Verstappen came to life and duly set the fastest lap of 1:27.641s, despite a touch of oversteer through turn 15. It put him two tenths clear of his team mate Perez in second, while Norris - the man who had looked like being the biggest threat to Verstappen for pole - suffered oversteer in the first sector and could only manage ninth. leaving Leclerc to split the Bulls at the top and Ricciardo clinching a remarkable fourth on the second row.
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