Leclerc flew with his Ferrari. Photo: REUTERS/Marco Bello
Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc, leader of the Formula 1 World Championship, occupied pole position on Saturday in the stunning Miami Grand Prix that will have the entire Ferrari in the first row of the starting grid, as Spaniard Carlos Sainz, his teammate ng Prancing Horseoccupied the second position in the classification.
In Miami’s second starting lineup, which opens Sunday as Formula 1 headquarters, the two Red Bull drivers will start. Dutchman Max Verstappen, current world champion, will start from third place followed by Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Perezwhich was the fastest of the last free trials.
“We have a long race ahead of us and absolutely anything can happen,” said Perez, who is chasing his third win of the race.
Leclerc, who leads Verstappen by 27 points in the overall championship standings, earned his third pole position of the year in the final qualifying lap at the Miami International Autodrome (5.412km).
“The last weekend wasn’t very good for me (in Imola), I made a mistake. But now we’re on pole and we have to finish the job tomorrow,” said Leclerc, who has two wins (Bahrain and Australia) in four races this year.
On Saturday, Verstappen had the fastest time in session closing seconds, but ended up slowing down with a mistake he attributed to a problem with his vehicle.
An unhappy move by Mad Max took him away from pole position in Miami. Photo: AFP
The Dutchman was caught in the final moments by Leclerc and Spaniard Sainz, who recovered from his crash on Friday that prompted him to withdraw from the second round of free practice.
“Considering where I came from yesterday, I take it (second place). Sunday is going to be an interesting day, I think we can do a good job,” said Sainz, who is still fighting for his first victory in Formula 1.
Thus Ferrari receives an injection of optimism for Sunday’s race after his disappointing performance at the last Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at the end of April, where Sainz retired and Leclerc dropped to sixth after leaving the track with ten laps left.
Sainz, Leclerc and Verstappen. Photo: Reuters.
Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) will start in fifth, from the third row, where he will join his former teammate seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), sixth in qualifying.
Behind them, from fourth, are Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) -seventh in the time trial- and Englishman Lando Norris (McLaren).
And from the fifth row will face the race the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), who finished tenth in main time.
Double Asturian world champion Fernando Alonso (Alpine), who was eliminated in Q2, will start eleventh in the fifth race of the year, scheduled for 57 laps to complete a 308.3-kilometer route.
Source: Clarin
