Verstappen takes pole in Miami after winning the sprint race

MIAMI:

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen continued his Formula 1 dominance by taking pole position for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix after winning the sprint race earlier on Saturday.

The reigning world champion and championship leader, who has won four out of five Grand Prix races this season, secured his seventh consecutive pole position with another dominant run.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, whose fastest lap was 0.141 seconds behind Verstappen, will start second with team-mate Carlos Sainz third and Verstappen’s Red Bull partner Sergio Perez fourth.

Three-time world champion Verstappen has won both previous Miami Grand Prix races but never from pole and said he still found qualifying difficult.

“Every year we come here, I find it extremely difficult to be very consistent with the feel of the car, the feel of the tire in a lap,” he said.

“It’s not the most enjoyable lap of my career just because of how slippery it is. You’re not too confident in the lap but we’re on pole and of course that’s the most important thing.”

Leclerc said it was difficult to manage the tyres, with an overheating problem, but said his performance in the sprint race encouraged him.

“We lost a bit of time there, but the race is long tomorrow, we showed good pace this morning (in the sprint race) and hopefully we can put Max under a bit more pressure,” he said.

Sainz highlighted how difficult it was for the drivers to set their fastest lap on the course around Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

“It’s really hard here with a new soft. Every lap is a little adventure,” he said.

“With the wind you never know what will happen. With all that in mind, the laps weren’t too bad.

“You always finish the lap and think you could have gone a lot faster, but it’s almost impossible to do a perfect clean lap here.”

Lando Norris will start in P5, just ahead of Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Earlier, Verstappen cruised to victory in the sprint race, finishing 3.3 seconds ahead of Leclerc.

The Dutchman led from pole and was never challenged after a chaotic opening lap.

Verstappen’s teammate Perez was third as the world champions gave themselves a points boost.

The Red Bull driver held off Leclerc’s strong start to secure his place at the front, but there was plenty of action and incident in the middle of the pack.

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Mercedes’ Hamilton ran strongly, but in the end the Dane was handed three penalties, adding 25 seconds to his time, after frequently leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Hamilton also received a penalty, leaving him out of the points in 16th after speeding in the pit lane.

The safety car was brought on after the first lap, where there was an incident on the starting line involving Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Norris.

But away from those skirmishes, it was business as usual for Verstappen, who added another eight points to his season tally with the win.

“I think my engine wasn’t good at the start so I had to speed it up a bit, luckily everything worked out in the first corner,” said Verstappen.

“Then we had the safety car just to calm things down a bit after that. Steadily we could increase the gap a bit, but it wasn’t quite perfect so we still have a bit of work to do.”

RB’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth in the sprint behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, but his joy was short-lived — he will start from last on Sunday after a disappointing qualifying session.

Magnusson accepted his penalties were “deserved” and Hamilton said he had enjoyed the duel.

“It’s very honest of him and I think it’s very nice,” said the British driver.

“We had a good race. It was a little bit on the edge in some places, but that’s what I like. I like the races hard and, for me, I wasn’t really disappointed or anything.”