Perez takes pole position in Miami as Leclerc spun
Championship leader Max Verstappen starts p9 after a red flag caused by Charles Leclerc forcing him to abort his last lap in Q3.
Max Verstappen from Red Bull led the timesheets in the last practice session of this weekend's Miami Grand Prix, finishing comfortably ahead of Charles Leclerc and teammate Sergio Perez.
But surprisingly it was Perez who set the fastest lap and will start the race alongside Alonso’s Aston Martin in p2 with Carlos Sainz in p3 right behind them.
Q1- Verstappen easily leads the first qualifying round while Aston Martin is shockingly eliminated.
Both McLarens were eliminated in Q1, with Lando Norris finishing 16th and teammate Oscar Piastri finishing 19th. Following Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, Yuki Tsunoda qualified his AlphaTauri in the provisional 17th position. Hometown driver Logan Sargeant from Williams qualified last.
Q2-Verstappen and Leclerc are in the lead after Q2, but Hamilton is having trouble.
Despite a strong Q1 showing, Nico Hulkenberg qualified for Haas 12th and Alex Albon 11th overall for Williams.
Lewis Hamilton battled in Sector 1 in the second round of qualifying, which contributed to his worst qualifying effort in the United States and first Q2 elimination since Monza last year. He finished P13. Nyck de Vries qualified for AlphaTauri in P15, while Zhou Guanyu qualified for Alfa Romeo in P14.
Leclerc spins in Q3, giving Perez the top spot and Verstappen the ninth-place start.
With only three minutes left, the defending champion took the track with fresh tires to move up from P10. Leclerc, however, lost control of his Ferrari at Turn 4 and slammed into the barriers, ending qualifying early and raising the red flag.
Fernando Alonso, driving for Aston Martin, started second for the race, Carlos Sainz, driving for Ferrari, qualified third, and Kevin Magnussen, driving for Haas, unexpectedly qualified fourth. Leclerc finished seventh and Esteban Ocon in the other Alpine finished eighth. Alpine's Pierre Gasly claimed P5 ahead of Mercedes' George Russell.
Verstappen qualified ahead of Valtteri Bottas for position nine despite neither driver setting a flying lap in qualifying round three.
