F1: Perez wins pole for Miami GP as Leclerc crash screws everyone

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The new asphalt used on the Miami GP circuit was getting faster and faster by the minute as top times came tumbling down between Max Verstappen, his teammate Sergio Perez, the two Ferraris and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

It what was setting up to be the most competitive pole position qualifying of the year so far, until Charles Leclerc  ran out of talent and crashed his #16 Ferrari for the 2nd time this weekend. That ruined any chance the 10 drivers in Q3 had of making the final run due to the Red Flag.

Leclerc took too much curb, and that combined with perhaps the windy conditions, combined to send his car spinning around at quite a high speed and into the barriers in Turn 6.

Luckily, there was enough run off area to slow him a bit, and he hit the barriers rear first, so his gearbox will need a thorough check.

With no time for the drivers to get out of the pits and start a flying lap, Race Control called it and that meant Perez is on pole thanks to that banker lap. Verstappen will start ninth after not setting a time.

In front of a big crowd on a hot day under the intense Miami sun, Sergio Perez put in a banker lap time of 1m26.841s earlier to win the pole over Fernando Alonso by 0.361s. It was his third career F1 pole.

“I think it’s been my worst weekend up until qualifying actually,” said a happy Perez.

“I couldn’t figure out how to get those tenths I was missing to Max [Verstappen] and the Ferraris. We made some small changes and put in the lap when it mattered.”

“It was a good qualifying! The car came alive, extremely happy with P2,” said Alonso.

“I did enjoy every lap, it was so enjoyable to drive. You have to have the confidence in the car to really attack qualifying, and I did have the confidence.”

Carlos Sainz Jr. was third for Ferrari. “It was a very tricky quali for all, it’s very tricky to find the right feeling with the tires. It was getting windier and windier. In general a decent outcome but I think today we could have been even better.”

Kevin Magnussen for Haas was a surprise 4th with Pierre Gasly rounding out the top-5.

Max Verstappen had to abort his first flying lap due to a snap of oversteer, which left the reigning champion scrambling to set another lap.

Unfortunately for the Dutchman, Charles Leclerc spun off in the dying moments of Q3 and left the championship leader ninth on the grid for Sunday’s race. For Perez, it was a first pole position at a Grand Prix venue other than Jeddah.

THE ROAD TO POLE

• Red Bull’s Sergio Perez claimed pole for the Miami Grand Prix with a time of 1m26.841s on a new set of P Zero Red soft tires: a benchmark that was nearly two seconds faster than last year’s pole time. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was three-tenths slower in second, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third on a 1m27.349s, ahead of Haas driver Kevin Magnussen. Alonso and Magnussen set their best times on a used set of softs.
• Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who claimed pole in Miami last year, lost control of his car in the closing minutes of Q3 and hit the Turn 7 barriers: the same part of the track where he had a problem in FP2 yesterday. The session consequently finished early, as there was no longer enough time for the other nine competitors on track to set a flying lap.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the fastest driver on track today, even though he will start tomorrow’s race from ninth place on the grid. The reigning world champion set the best time of the day in Q2: 1m26.814s. Verstappen was also fastest in FP3 today with a time of 1m27.535s: 0.406s quicker than Leclerc in second, while Perez was third on a 1m28.050s. The teams mainly ran using the soft tire in FP3, with grip consistently improving.
• The C4 proved strong performance even after several laps on the smooth asphalt of the Miami Autodrome.
• In FP3 (from 12:30 to 13:30) track temperatures peaked at 54 degrees centigrade with 33 degrees ambient. Conditions were cooler later in the afternoon with a minimum track temperature of 39 degrees, while ambient temperatures varied only by a few degrees.

Qualifying Results