Verstappen takes pole in Miami GP sprint race

In the qualifying session for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix sprint race, Max Verstappen of Red Bull achieved pole position by outperforming Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. Lando Norris of McLaren, who led in the first two stages of qualifying, lost ground at the end of the session.

Norris led stages one and two of qualifying, with a time in the middle segment that would have been enough to lead in the third stage. However, after switching to soft tires for the last segment, he fell out of contention by losing 0.8 seconds to Verstappen in the first sector.

Verstappen's lap to secure pole in the sprint race was not perfect, as he struggled with his RB20 at the tight chicane at the end of the last sector. Nonetheless, he recorded a time of 1m27.641s which was enough to secure the top spot.

Leclerc finished in second place, just over 0.1 seconds behind Verstappen, an impressive recovery after losing most of the practice time due to an early spin and a clutch issue.

Sergio Pérez finished third in the other Red Bull, followed by Daniel Ricciardo, who avoided hitting the wall exiting turn 16 in the second stage of qualifying. Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin also hit the wall in the first segment and finished eighth behind Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri, and Lance Stroll in the other AMR24.

Ultimately, Norris was only able to surpass Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, despite setting the fastest times in the last two sectors of qualifying. In the second stage, Mercedes saw both cars eliminated, with George Russell outperforming Lewis Hamilton in 11th and 12th place, the latter hitting the wall exiting turn 16 on his final lap.