Sergio Perez took F1 Miami GP pole from Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz as session ended under red flag after Charles Leclerc’s spin.

Q1:

The first part in F1 Miami GP qualifying had some hairy moments for few of the drivers. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton almost clouted the back of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, with the move under investigation. There was another involving Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu.

He had Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in front of him as he had to take evasive action, with the impeding being noted. There was an unsafe release from AlphaTauri in front of Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg as well, with track evolution playing a huge role.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the pace with a 1m27.363s lap, as teammate Sergio Perez was third behind Ferrari’s Sainz who put in a late lap. The drop zone saw both the McLaren being knocked out where Lando Norris (1m28.394s) missed out by 0.069s in 16th.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m28.394s) was behind in 17th, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m28.476s) being a big name to be dropped out in 18th. The other McLaren of Oscar Piastri (1m28.484s) was 19th with Williams’ Logan Sargeant (1m28.577s) in 20th.

Q2:

Ahead of the start of second part in F1 Miami GP qualifying, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Magnussen were noted for impeding. It was more smooth this time but for an unsafe release from Haas in front of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Red Bull’s Verstappen continuing to lead the way with 1m26.814s lap from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with Alonso in third. The big name to be knocked out was Mercedes’ Hamilton in 13th after a 1m27.975s lap with George Russell barely making in.

Williams’ Alexander Albon was the first to lose out in 11th with a 1m27.795s lap, with Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg in 12th after a 1m27.903s lap. Hamilton in 13th led Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu (1m28.091s) and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries (1m28.395s).

Q3:

The final part in F1 Miami GP qualifying saw Red Bull’s Verstappen lose out on his first run with multiple moments where he was forced to abort. Teammate Perez got provisional pole with a 1m26.841s lap ahead of Alonso and Sainz in the Top 3.

Magnussen was in fourth after the first run with Verstappen and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas with no time, as Leclerc was only seventh after a lock-up and brush with the wall. The Monegasque binned it on his second run as a spin from him brought out the red flag.

The session ended as per the first run with Perez taking F1 Miami GP pole from Alonso (1m27.202s) and Sainz (1m27.349s), with Magnussen (1m27.767s) fourth from Alpine’s Gasly (1m27.786s) in the Top 5.

Russell (1m27.804s) was sixth from Leclerc (1m27.861s) and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m27.935s), with Verstappen ahead of Bottas but the latter two had no time set.

UPDATE: Hamilton and Magnussen cleared by the FIA stewards for dangerous driving summon. “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 20 (Kevin Magnussen), the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), team representatives and reviewed video, team radio and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 20 was on a slow lap, with another slow car in front of it,” the note said.

“Car 44 was on an in-lap and could see Car 20 at the end of the straight. The unexpectedly high speed differential between the two cars resulted in Car 44 having to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

“Given that neither car was on a fast lap and the fact that Car 20 had another slow car ahead of it, we did not consider either driver to be driving dangerously. Given that they were not on fast laps, there was no question of impeding either. So in the circumstances, we decided to take no further action.”

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