F1 Miami GP Live Commentary and Updates – Sprint race & Qualifying
Saturday's action from the sixth round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
F1 runs its second sprint race event of the season, with Max Verstappen taking pole during Friday’s sprint race qualifying ahead of Charles Leclerc. Lando Norris led the opening two segments of sprint race qualifying but faded to ninth in SQ3.
The Miami GP sprint race starts at 5pm BST (12pm local time) followed by grand prix qualifying at 9pm BST (4pm local time).
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And with that, that's our coverage of Miami Grand Prix Saturday completed.
Thank you for your company across the sprint and qualifying. We will do it all again for tomorrow's race and we hope you will join us again!
Thank you for your company across the sprint and qualifying. We will do it all again for tomorrow's race and we hope you will join us again!
The pole award has been presented by Jerry Bruckheimer, who, of course, is working on the F1 film produced by Hamilton.
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Sainz: "We managed to do some clean laps. Every lap is a bit of an adventure."
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Leclerc: "Hopefully tomorrow, we can put Max under more pressure.
"DRS is super-powerful here so we must not lose it."
"DRS is super-powerful here so we must not lose it."
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Verstappen: "We definitely improved the car a bit.
"It was about finding a balance. We did okay. It is not the most enjoyable lap in my career because of how slippery it is."
"It was about finding a balance. We did okay. It is not the most enjoyable lap in my career because of how slippery it is."
A small correction, Norris did improve on his lap and jumped ahead of Piastri into fifth.
That's now seven poles in a row for the Red Bull driver. Astonishing dominance.
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Verstappen team radio: "That was quite tricky."
That means Verstappen is on pole position yet again, with Leclerc and Sainz in attack formation for Ferrari behind.
Checkered flag
Hamilton jumps to eighth ahead of Hulkenberg, but that's it, nobody else improved.
It's not good for any of them, there's no fast sectors being set. Verstappen doesn't improve, neither does Leclerc or Sainz.
This is a bit of an anti-climax.
This is a bit of an anti-climax.
Verstappen will set his lap before Leclerc...
Hamilton and Russell are both onto the mediums though... a hail mary?
Here we go then, the cars are coming onto the track for one final chance. Norris is back onto the softs.
Norris is sixth, Russell seventh, Hamilton eighth with the latter complaining of a lack of grip.
Leclerc slots into second, 0.141s down on Verstappen, with Sainz third and Piastri fourth.
Stopwatch
Perez is next across the line and he goes fastest... not for long as Verstappen sets a 1m27.241. Scintillating stuff.
It's a 1m28.654 to start for Hamilton, which is half a second slower than Russell.
Wide into T11 for Hamilton which won't help his overall time... let's see what it yields.
The Mercedes drivers will be first to set a time, led by Hamilton...
Lights green
Q3 is go with another traffic jam. Norris is back on the mediums, a clear strategy for the McLaren driver.
Who will come out in the pole battle? Verstappen, Leclerc or Hamilton? Plenty in with a shout!
So close for Stroll who has been in decent form this weekend. For the second time this weekend he qualifies ahead of Alonso.
Checkered flag
So Stroll, Gasly, Ocon, Albon and Alonso are all out. A great lap from Hamilton though, that will have turned heads.
Ocon goes only 13th and will be out, Albon is next across the line, can he get into Q3? He can't but he is faster than Alonso.
Russell goes eighth - that's both Aston Martins out. Verstappen confirms his passage with the second best time.
Alonso can only go 13th on his lap as the chequered flag comes out, a shocker for the Spaniard as Stroll goes ninth. Make that 10th as Hamilton goes second.
Medium tyres are on for Norris... that's bold.
Just under four minutes to go and Ocon, Hamilton, Stroll, Alonso and Albon are in the bottom five.
Yellow flag
We have yellow flags out briefly for Albon, who had stopped at T17 but the Williams has continued.
That was until Leclerc came across the line to go 0.188s faster. Sainz goes fourth - both Ferraris and both McLarens on new tyres.
Stopwatch
Verstappen was faster than Perez but Piastri was the one who went top with a 1m27.721.
Verstappen went deep into T12 which will likely leave him needing to find time on his later run, underlined by the fact he hasn't gone purple.
Unlike in Q1, Verstappen will be the first of the big guns to set a time as both Red Bulls venture out on used sets of softs.
Lights green
Here we go for Q2 then. Another long queue of cars are exiting the pits.
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
A reminder that Ricciardo has carried across a penalty from China and will now start last for tomorrow's race.
The takeaway from the opening session is the resurgence of Alpine. What an effort from both Gasly and Ocon to get into the top 10.
Checkered flag
At the end of Q1, it's Bottas, Sargeant, Ricciardo, Magnussen and Zhou out.
Magnussen is furious with traffic in the final corner.
Magnussen is furious with traffic in the final corner.
By: Autosport Staff
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