F1 News: Max Verstappen admits Miami confidence fears - Top three qualifying verdict

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Miami, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

Miami Grand Prix

Verstappen admits Miami confidence fears - Top three qualifying verdict

Here's what the top three drivers had to say after Miami Grand Prix qualifying.

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 4 May 2024 23:57 Updated: 12:45

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Max Verstappen described his Miami Grand Prix qualifying session as 'hard', despite claiming his 38th career pole position on the grid for Sunday's big race in south Florida.

Conditions out on track were difficult during qualifying, with tyres overheating and Verstappen highlighting the slippery conditions.

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Charles Leclerc managed to claim a front row start in second, but could not find enough to take pole position away from the current championship leader.

Whilst they missed out on pole, the Ferraris still split the two Red Bulls, with Carlos Sainz qualifying third, leaving Sergio Perez down in fourth.

Here's what the top three drivers had to say after an action-packed qualifying in which many drivers struggled with a lack of grip.

Max Verstappen

"We definitely improved the car a bit. I don't know what it is, every single year we come here, I find it extremely difficult to be consistent with the car feeling, the tyre feeling over one lap.

"It's super hard to make sure that Sector 1 feels good, then Sector 3 at the end of the lap. To make that happens together is incredibly tough.

"Again today, it was about finding that balance. I think we did OK. It wasn't the most enjoyable lap of my career because of how slippery it is and you're not very confident on the lap. But we are on pole, and that's the most important thing."

On his race pace:

"It definitely feels a little bit more under control , which I was looking for. Hopefully that helps us out tomorrow.

"We know what we, and I, did wrong at the start [in the sprint]. I'm sure if I do my things correctly, then it should be alright."

Charles Leclerc

"It felt so much on the limit.

"It was very close until Q3 where when we started to push for the last one or two tenths, we started to lose the tyres in sector two and three. Overheating them quite a bit.

"So today that's where we lost a bit of time. However, the race is long tomorrow, this morning [in the sprint] we showed a good pace so I hope we can put Max under a bit more pressure."

"This, and keeping the DRS if we don't get past at turn one. DRS is super powerful here and if we lose it after the first lap it's super difficult to come back without DRS. So we must not lose it.

"But first of all it will be the start. This morning we had a good one and tomorrow I'll try to have an even better one."

Carlos Sainz

"A bit of a shame about the Sprint, I couldn't get past Daniel but I knew the pace was there.

"I knew with a clean quali I could be in the top three. We managed to do some clean laps.

"It's really tricky around here with a new soft. Every lap is a bit of adventure.

"With the wind you don't know what will happen. Keeping all that in mind, the laps were not too bad.

"You always finish the lap and think you could have gone so much faster, but it's almost impossible to put a perfect clean lap around here."

Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari FIA Charles Leclerc