The Formula 1 edit

Hello everyone! It’s that time yet again! The Miami qualifying round took place last Saturday. Here is everything you need to know.

Q1

Max Verstappen quickly set the fastest lap, but many drivers weren’t worried about being the fastest, they were worried about being fast enough to stay out of the bottom 5, which was exactly the case for British Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton found himself in 17th place in Q1, but fortunately after completing his last lap, he improved to 8th position. Another driver who was at risk for elimination, Yuki Tsunoda was in position 16, but found a good lap pace and flew to 9th. The drivers eliminated in Q1 were Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, and Oliver Bearman. Onto Q2!

q2

15 drivers left and the Man from Melbourne finds himself in pole position. He is followed by his teammate Lando Norris and then rookie Kimi Antonelli. Anything could change in the span of 18 minutes. Lewis Hamilton drops down to 11th, he couldn’t seem to find his rhythm to make it into Q3, something he has done every single race of this season. Hamilton’s ex teammate George Russell finds himself down in 13th, so he is under pressure to maintain his streak of making it into the top 5 for every single race this year, and he does it! Russell up to third position! Russell’s position success isn’t without its difficulty for other drivers, Frenchman Isack Hadjar is pushed to 11th position. Aussie Jack Doohan is P14, can he improve in the 3 seconds left of Q2? Unfortunately not. Even though it was the best lap of qualifying for him, it wasn’t enough for the Alpine driver to make it into the third session. The drivers eliminated in this session are Isack Hadjar, Lewis Hamilton, Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan, and Liam Lawson.

q3

It’s now or never for the remaining ten drivers to prove to themselves and to their team that they have what it takes to be a race leader! Esteban Ocon leads qualifying with a time of 1 minute and 27 seconds, but world champion Max Verstappen is fast approaching and looking for a 43rd pole position! Verstappen quickly beats the Haas driver’s time! Verstappen to pole! Oscar Piastri is now under pressure to deliver a faster time than his competitor, but his teammate might be the driver he has to worry about! Even though he is ten seconds behind Piastri, Lando Norris is setting a faster time. Winning the Miami grand prix last year, Norris has big shoes to fill, and those shoes would be none other than 2024 Lando Norris! Will he be able to deliver the same results this year as he did last year? Only time will tell! Oscar Piastri sets his time but remains in the shadow of Red Bull’s world champion. Verstappen holds onto pole, but Norris is yet to set his time, so there is still hope that McLaren can score a 1-2, but Lando falls short of Verstappen, putting him in 2nd, beating his teammate by less than a second. Kimi Antonelli is fresh off the victory of a sprint pole a day earlier, and he finds himself in the final 10, what an outstanding driver! Before setting his starting time he is in 9th place, but once he does, he improves to P4! Max Verstappen speeds up quite a bit, even though he is already in the lead, it’s never a bad idea to put some more space between you and the car behind you! The McLaren cars struggle to keep up, but Norris closes majority of the gap between him and the race leader, putting himself 9 thousandths of a second behind the Dutchman. It’s Verstappen vs. Norris for the Miami grand prix pole position! Max comes over the line before Lando, but once Lando passes the line as well, he misses out on the lead by 6 hundredths of a second! Verstappen will start the Miami grand prix from pole position the following day, but qualifying isn’t over for every driver. Here comes Kimi Antonelli who is ripping through the final turns! He manages to take his current P6 and turn it into P3! Carlos Sainz improves to P5, but is quickly brought down to P6 by George Russell, the first time that Russell has ever been out-qualified by his teammate!

the grid

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Lando Norris (McLaren)
3. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5. George Russell (Mercedes)
6. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
7. Alex Albon (Williams)
8. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
9. Esteban Ocon (Haas)
10. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
11. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
12. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
13. Gabriel Bortoleto (Stake Kick Sauber)
14. Jack Doohan (Alpine)
15. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
16. Nico Hulkenberg (Stake Kick Sauber)
17. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
18. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
20. Oliver Bearman (Haas)

I’ll catch you at the race! xx