Before reaching the first Miami Grand Prix in the history of Formula 1, everything seemed to indicate that Red Bull and Ferrari would once again star in another incredible battle for pole position, although the pace shown by Mercedes on Friday, especially with George Russell , seemed to indicate that they could also join the fight between the two strongest teams on the grid so far.
In Q3, Max Verstappen set the fastest time on the first fast lap attempt, but a mistake on the second and final attack gave Ferrari a chance to take the lead. The Scuderia made the most of it by conquering the front row of the grid. Charles Leclerc overtook his teammate, Carlos Sainz, to take his third pole position of the course.
Classification was not easy. After what happened on Friday, several drivers made it clear that there was no grip outside the ideal line, so making mistakes could be very costly and even have quite disastrous consequences.
“Difficult. It was very slippery and you were sliding all the time. It is very difficult to put everything together because you lose a lot of grip and also the lap time if you go even a little off the line”, explained the Monegasque driver, who was able to count on a Ferrari F1-75 very consistent on his lap from pole.”
“The pole lap wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough to finish in first place. The car was great and I hope we can keep this pace in the race.”
Ferrari has brought new parts for the F1-75 to Miami for the first time so far this year. According to Leclerc , these are a step in the right direction, although the Monegasque knows that something more will be needed as the season progresses.
“I’m very confident with the car. We have a very strong package that has worked from the start of the season in more or less all conditions. That’s a good sign for the future, but as I’ve said many times before, I think the updates will play a very important role this year,” said the poleman.
“We brought some updates here and they are a step in the right direction. Hopefully we will bring more improvements throughout the season to keep the lead.”
Confirmation that the updates are working came in Q3 when Ferrari saw its two drivers settle into the front row of the grid. This gave the Italian team and its driver, Leclerc , a small advantage over his closest (real) pursuer in the world championship race, Verstappen , who will have to start the race from third position.
The fact that his teammate Sainz is next to him on the front row is a plus: “It’s definitely better. Carlos and I are very competitive, that’s great for the team and we’ll give everything we can to finish in the same positions on Sunday”, concluded the Monegasque.
