For the second straight round, Friday played host to Sprint Qualifying to set the Grid for the Miami Sprint!
SQ1
In Sprint Qualifying 1; Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant, and Alex Albon were the five slowest drivers. Pierre Gasly was some 3-tenths off his Alpine teammate in SQ1 which isn’t great whilst Zhou Guanyu out-qualified Valtteri Bottas in a disappointing afternoon for Kick Sauber. However, nothing compares to Williams as both Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon made errors on their final flying lap. However, rather ironically, it did mean that Logan finally out-qualified Albon! It was Lando Norris who set the fastest time in SQ1, ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri!
SQ2
In Sprint Qualifying 2; George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, and Yuki Tsunoda all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Mercedes woes are clearly not going away anytime soon, with both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton exiting in SQ2! Esteban Ocon will be pleased with a P13 in his Alpine whilst Kevin Magnussen will start 14th for Haas. Yuki Tsunoda will be disappointed with his SQ2 outing, especially given the gap to his Visa Cash App RB teammate! Lando Norris once again topped the times, this time ahead of the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
SQ3
In Sprint Qualifying 3; a 1:27.641 was enough for Max Verstappen to take Sprint Quali Pole! The ironic thing about Max getting Pole in this session was he seemed very surprised, which made sense given the mistake he made in the tricky chicane. Charles Leclerc got the maximum out of his Ferrari to take a really good P2 whilst Sergio Perez will feel alright about starting P3. The star of Qualifying however was none other than Daniel Ricciardo, who will start in an incredible P4 in his VCARB, ahead of the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. Oscar Piastri will start P6 for McLaren, ahead of the two Aston Martin’s as Lance Stroll managed to out-qualify Fernando Alonso. Lando Norris had an extremely disappointing SQ3 session and will start 9th as a result whilst Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the Top 10 with another strong showing for Haas.
Starting Grid for the 2024 Miami Grand Prix Sprint and My Sprint Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Charles Leclerc: 10
Sergio Perez: 8
Daniel Ricciardo: 10
Carlos Sainz: 7
Oscar Piastri: 7
Lance Stroll: 7
Fernando Alonso: 5
Lando Norris: 4
Nico Hulkenberg: 8
George Russell: 3
Lewis Hamilton: 3
Esteban Ocon: 6
Kevin Magnussen: 5
Yuki Tsunoda: 3
Pierre Gasly: 3
Zhou Guanyu: 3
Logan Sargeant: 2
Alex Albon: 1
Valtteri Bottas: 2
My Predictions for the 2024 Miami Sprint
Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez
Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz
Oscar Piastri