Charles Leclerc won the field for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix with another demonstration of superb precision, performed impeccably for Ferrari, driving on what is a test track that punishes pilots over the weekend. His title contender, Max Verstappen, was forced to make a small mistake that cost him only a third, with Leclerc teammate Carlos Sainz second, while the audience at the first race session of Miami International Autodrome enjoyed the show. which they did.
Lewis Hamilton, who was hoping for some improvement from Mercedes this week, improved his recent qualifier to sixth place, but his team is eight-tenths behind the leaders.
An audience of 82,500 roared over their driving characters as Miami provided a noisy, lively welcome and the pilots duly took to the stage with some strenuous and tentative runs that highlighted how the discipline of one lap remains a charged, captivating spectacle. The crowd came for fun and they paid a lot for it, with ticket prices starting at $ 900 for a three-day pass.
So far, Miami has introduced itself, they have enjoyed the wonderful facilities and the track, the bright smiles and the party atmosphere was one of the crowds that had shamelessly come to enjoy. Purists can smell the splendor of the racing business in Miami, but certainly not the fans here, for whom the event was successfully adapted.
The pilots gave them a suitable appetizer for Sunday’s race. The session always seemed to be a clash between the two leading protagonists of the title, Verstappen and Leclerc, and so it turned out when they made their last decisive laps, but Sainz also insisted that he would not be ignored either.
A Ferrari fan enjoys the success of Charles Leclerc. Photo: Chandan Khanna / AFP / Getty Images
In his first hot lap in Q3, Leclerc went quickly through the first two sectors, but Verstappen behind him was huge in the last, narrow series of cornering tests, his time of 1 minute 28.991 seconds. he had an advantage over Leclerc by only six hundred.
In the last laps Leclerc once again opened the run and pressed hard, up in the first sector and again in the middle, he made the difference in closing time of 1 minute 28,796 seconds. Sainz almost equalized and really went faster in the starting sector to the roar of the crowd, only to be defeated by two tenths. Verstappen pressed, but a small mistake and some excessive cornering cost him until the fifth turn, as he regretted wasting time due to mechanical problems in practice. He was forced to retreat and was also beaten by Sainz. He had to do his best, that’s the difference between the leaders, but there is little choice between Ferrari and Red Bull at a competitive pace, on Sunday he will face tense opposition.
Still, Leclerc with his third pole this season is again in the best possible position to increase the lead by 27 points over Verstappen.
Mercedes hoped to take some steps forward in Miami. They brought improvements to the car and it seems that they have brought some improvement. Hamilton certainly felt happier, especially after a few experienced qualifiers this year. “It was a much, much better qualifying session than I had in the last three races,” he said. “So I am grateful for that, to be honest, and I will accept it.”
However, with George Russell, who was in 12th place earlier in the weekend, saying he had “no confidence” in the car, the team clearly has a long way to go.
“It’s a little inconsistent,” he said. “When we put it in the window, it’s fast. The potential was there. “They did not expect to overcome their problems in one fell swoop, but Hamilton’s position implies at least some gradual progress.
Britain’s Jamie Chadwick has won the start of the new season of the W Series women’s championship in Miami. The reigning champion lost and regained the lead in a racing and accident-filled race. Martha Garcia of Spain finished second, and Britain’s Jessica Hawkins, who is the pilot ambassador for the Aston Martin F1 team, was third.
Chadwick is the W Series defending champion after winning the first two seasons of the series, but had to work hard to win his first outing this year. The 23-year-old is competing this season for the team, backed by former Olympian Caitlin Jenner, and opened her third season in the W Series with a strong statement of intent. “It was a strange race, I don’t know what happened, but we will accept it,” she said.
Valteri Botas was fifth for Alfa Romeo, Pierre Gasley seventh for AlphaTauri with teammate Yuki Tsunoda ninth. Lando Norris was eighth for McLaren and Lance Stroll was tenth for Aston Martin.
Fernando Alonso was 11th for Alpine, Sebastian Vettel was 13th for Aston Martin, and Daniel Ricciardo was 14th for McLaren and Mick Schumacher in 15th for Haas.
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Alex Alban and Nicholas Latifi were 18th and 19th for Williams. Kevin Magnussen was 16th for Haas and Zhou Guanyu in 17th for Alfa Romeo.
Esteban Okon of Alpine did not take part in the qualifiers after receiving a cracked chassis from an accident in the last training session. He will start the race from the back of the grid.
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