“Hahaha, what happened to the others?” Verstappen amazed at getting minipole in Miami
Evgeny Kustov May 4, 2024, 00:35 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The main failures in the sprint classification were due to the presence of Norris and Mercedes at full speed.
Before the Formula 1 sprint qualifying in Miami, only the same old warning could be repeated: all teams had a single practice session to find the settings, which would surely generate surprises. Well, Charles Leclerc had to act almost blind after a spin at the beginning of training.
Q1: Williams at the end
Following the results of the initial segment of the sprint classification, two teams completed their performances at once: Kick-Sauber and Williams. At the same time, James Vowles’ team occupied the last row of the sprint grid. Sargent could not save himself even in the fastest final sector, and Albon cursed himself: Alex made a mistake and cut the track, so in the end he was deprived of the last fastest lap and was relegated to 20th place.
As for Kick-Sauber, in addition to 17th and 18th places, the team may be upset by the work of new race engineer Valtteri Bottas: he warned the Finn too late that Oscar Piastri was leaving to do a fast lap. The cars touched in the first corner and it is now impossible to believe that Bottas will avoid a penalty. Apparently, falling from line 18 to the last one isn’t that scary.
The last loser of the segment was Pierre Gasly, who could not immediately master the light Alpin car. Ocon was three tenths faster: 14th. The main surprise of Q1 was probably given by Magnussen (the fifth time is far ahead of Hulkenberg), and Leclerc still felt out of place: he made a mistake on the first attempt and hit the wall on the second, but without consequences .
Q2: A nightmare for Mercedes
During the second part of sprint qualifying, the weather seemed to get a little worse: most drivers did their best laps on the first attempt. Max Verstappen, who came close to the end, was only fourth, but for Yuki Tsunoda, the decision to save the tires and settle for an attempt proved fatal: the Japanese only showed the 15th time, despite the fact that Daniel Ricciardo went further with the fifth result! Although in Q1 Yuki was faster.
And yet, the main loser of the segment is not Tsunoda at all – the complete Mercedes did not go further! When, after the first attempts, Russell and Hamilton fell slightly short of Hulkenberg, it seemed to be more of a misunderstanding. But no one could improve on their second attempt: as a result, Russell will start 11th on Saturday and Hamilton 12th. Also in Q2, the session ended for Ocon (less than a hundredth behind Hamilton) and Magnussen. Kevin weakly crossed the first sector in the exit attempt, which turned out to be fatal.
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Suárez and Sainz faced each other at the F1 Grand Prix in Miami. Photo
P3: Bug Festival
The final segment showed the strangeness of the current sprint qualifying format: with eight minutes and a limited number of tires, the drivers decided to limit themselves to one attempt, so that in the end all the attempts fit into the final two or three minutes. And the runners made a lot of mistakes with them! Even pole position holder Verstappen was no exception. When the Dutchman was told over the radio that he was the first, Max responded: “Haha, what happened to the others? It was terrible!”
Despite the imperfect lap, Verstappen was a tenth ahead of Charles Leclerc: at the decisive moment, the Monegasque was in the lead, while Carlos Sainz, after a serious error in the third sector, was only fifth. Between the two Ferrari representatives fit Sergio Pérez and Friday’s protagonist, Daniel Ricciardo. Maybe it’s too early to end their careers?
Oscar Piastri became the sixth, but the best of the McLaren drivers. Lando Norris, following an already bad tradition, made a mistake at the decisive moment and qualified only ninth, ahead of Hulkenberg by just four thousandths. The fourth row was full of Aston Martin drivers, with Lance Stroll unexpectedly ahead of Fernando Alonso; the return of the Spanish was probably also imperfect.
Saturday’s Miami Formula 1 Sprint Grand Prix starts on May 4 at 19:00 Moscow time.
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