Max Verstappen miles faster than Lewis Hamilton to secure Miami GP pole

04 May 2024 , 21:02

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Max Verstappen followed up his F1 Sprint win with pole position for the Miami Grand Prix (Image: Getty Images)

Max Verstappen followed up his Sprint victory to secure pole position for the Miami Grand Prix.

The Dutchman was challenged by both Ferraris but held them off to maintain his perfect record so far this season. He is the first driver to land himself on pole for the first six races of a season since Alain Prost in 1993.

Charles Leclerc had to settle for sharing the front row with the Dutchman while Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz was third quickest. Both Mercedes cars were off the pace again though with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton more than eight-tenths of a second slower.

Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez was fourth quickest ahead of the two McLaren cars. Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda were pleased to make it through to Q3 and rounded off the top 10.

Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth in the Sprint race but, just a few hours later, was only 18th quickest in qualifying for the main race. He has a three-place penalty left over from the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago and, as a result, will start Sunday's race last on the grid.

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Both Saubers also failed to make it out of Q1 while Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant were the other early casualties. The latter, born in Florida, would have hoped for more on home soil - especially with his Williams seat under pressure.

Both Alpines showed surprisingly good pace to make it through, but their day ended in Q2. And both Aston Martins also failed to reach the top 10 with Fernando Alonso a disappointing 15th fastest and behind team-mate Lance Stroll.

Alex Albon damaged his clutch while reversing after going off track and was also powerless to prevent a Q2 exit. Hamilton was in trouble for a while, but pulled out an excellent lap to book his place in the final part of the session.

But he could only go eighth quickest in Q3 and his best lap was almost a second slower than the pole time set by Verstappen. Team-mate Russell managed to go slightly quicker but was still miles off the pole fight.

More calling for Mercedes was that both McLarens, their customer team, were ahead of them on the grid again. As for Red Bull, they would have preferred to have Perez ahead of the Ferraris - instead, Verstappen needs a good start to avoid being exposed by those red cars behind him.

Daniel Moxon