'I f***** it' - Verstappen error as Leclerc claims pole for F1 Miami Grand Prix
Leclerc posted a lap 0.190 seconds faster than teammate Carlos Sainz, while Max Verstappen was left to rue a mistake on his final lap of Q3, which left him third on the grid, 0.195s behind his main title rival.
It marked Ferrari’s first front-row lockout in qualifying since the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix.
"Last weekend wasn't great for me,” said Leclerc after securing his third pole of the season. “I made a mistake in the race, but today went well. We are starting on pole and we need to finish the job tomorrow.
"Red Bull are extremely quick in the straight lines. We are quick in the corners. It will be a tight challenge tomorrow."
Sergio Perez was fourth-fastest for Red Bull, while Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas starred on his way to fifth, two-tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.
The seven-time world champion put in a strong lap in his improved Mercedes as teammate George Russell suffered a Q2 exit, but Hamilton was still 0.829s off the pace.
Just behind Hamilton came Pierre Gasly, who outpaced McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Lance Stroll completed the top 10 for Aston Martin.
What went wrong for Verstappen in qualy for F1 Miami GP?
Verstappen sat on provisional pole but made a critical error through the first sector as he attempted to respond to Leclerc’s improvement.
“I f**ked it,” the reigning world champion admitted after suffering a big snap which ruined his final attempt.
Nevertheless, Verstappen said he was surprised to make the second row after the reliability issues that disrupted his Friday running and restricted him to just five timed laps across the two practice sessions.
"Overall I am pretty pleased with qualifying,” he said. “Literally I did four or five laps yesterday so today I was still trying to learn the track and trying to find a decent balance in the car. To be that competitive in qualifying, I was a bit surprised.
"We have a good chance tomorrow. We have a bit of speed. The car is handling quite well. I'm looking forward to that.”
How did the rest fare?
Fernando Alonso narrowly missed out on a spot in the top 10 shootout as he finished 11th for Alpine, just ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who was the biggest scalp of Q2 as he also failed to advance into Q3.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was less than a tenth shy of progressing into the final part of qualifying as he took 13th.
Daniel Ricciardo could not replicate the pace of his McLaren teammate on his way to 14th, while Mick Schumacher outpaced Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen for just the second time this season.
Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou was only 17th after seeing his best lap was ruined by traffic as he too suffered an early exit in qualifying.
Alex Albon outqualified Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi by just 0.059s as the pair ended up with the slowest times of qualifying, ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who did not take part after a crash in final practice.
Ocon’s chassis was cracked in his hefty impact with the Turn 14 barriers and could not be repaired in time. The Frenchman is “physically fine” and will start Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix from the very back of the grid.
