In one of those capricious blows of fate, the starting grid for the Miami GP will have this Sunday (9:30 p.m.) a trio of Hispanic leaders, with the Mexican Checo Pérez on pole, followed by the Spanish Fernando Alonso, second, and Carlos Sainz, third. All this thanks to an unexpected spin by Charles Leclerc and a red flag that prevented the completion of the second attempt and left Max Verstappen ninth.
In the first qualifying round, following the pattern of the morning practice sessions, Verstappen’s Red Bull took first position, leaving his immediate pursuers, Carlos Sainz and Checo Pérez, three tenths behind. Leclerc was fourth and Alonso only 12th, 8 tenths behind the Dutchman. The surprise was the elimination of the two McLarens and also Lance Stroll, the Spaniard’s teammate, who did not go beyond 18th time.
The fight was compressed in the second scene of the qualifying, with another surprise, the terrible position of Lewis Hamilton, 13th, 2 seconds from the cut established by his teammate Russell. Verstappen took the cat into the water again, with a margin of 150 thousandths of a margin over Leclerc and 283 over Alonso, who rose to third place in a hopeful way. Sainz was fourth, 3 tenths behind the Dutchman, and ahead of Pérez.
In the final Q3, Verstappen had to abort the first attempt due to a driving error in turn 4 and had to return to the garage, just like Leclerc due to a braking pass. Pérez opened the dance with the provisional pole and Alonso, with a used tire, was behind him at three tenths, with Sainz third at five tenths.
But on the second try the picture changed. Leclerc started first and spun with a minute and a half to go, which led to a red flag that turned the grid around: the drivers could no longer go out on track and the classification remained as it was, with Checo first, Alonso second, Sainz third, Leclerc seventh and Verstappen ninth without having been able to set time.
