Max Verstappen Cruises for Miami Sprint Victory and Grand Prix Pole

Sprint winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 04, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

MIAMI – A sweep in the lone practice session and the Sprint Qualifying put Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in a comfortable position ahead of the second Sprint Race of the season, while challenges from Ferrari are going to try to keep the reigning three-time World Champion close by.

There were a couple of changes to the Sprint Grid by the time the cars had made it to the grid for pre-race festivities. Following the harrowing moment going into Turn 1 during Sprint Qualifying the day prior between Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Bottas was handed a three-place grid penalty. Meanwhile, Williams had decided to make changes to the suspension on Alex Albon’s car in Parc Ferme conditions, forcing them to start on the pit lane.

As the grid was being formed, a strange moment occurred in the pit lane as the drivers were heading out to the grid. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon came out of his garage ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which gave the Alpine driver a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for an unsafe release.

Finally, the tire covers were removed, showing the choices for tires in the Sprint Race. 18 cars opted for Medium compound tires, while the Visa Cash App RB of Yuki Tsunoda and the Williams of Logan Sargeant started on Soft compound tires. The grid cleared, and Verstappen led the field around for the formation lap.

As the lights went out, Verstappen got away ahead of Leclerc while Sergio Perez’s other Red Bull went wide into Turn 1, allowing Daniel Ricciardo’s Visa Cash App RB to go through to take third. Meanwhile, as the field started to stack up, Lando Norris’s McLaren found himself on the outside of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martins, with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes coming in to make it four-wide.

However, you can only go so many cars wide into a single corner, and in a matter of moments, the sandwiching between Stroll, Alonso and Hamilton made contact, and Norris became the odd man out. He was sent sliding into the run-off and unable to move his car, ending his day before it could even begin.

The Safety Car was called to the track as debris needed to be cleared from Turn 1. Aston Martin determined to retire Stroll’s car while Alonso pitted for a new front wing as Alpine had Ocon serve his time penalty. Shortly, with debris cleared, the SC returned to the pits, and Verstappen led Leclerc, Ricciardo, Perez and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari to green flag racing once again.

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia driving the (3) Visa Cash App RB VCARB 01 leads Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 04, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

With a clean getaway, Verstappen set off to stay clear of Leclerc as his teammate was getting to work on trying to get back by the Visa Cash App RB, with a very hungry Sainz and Piastri behind him. Further back, the Haas pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were trying to keep themselves in the points positions with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton trying to make up positions back into the points following a disappointing qualifying.

While Perez was able to clear Ricciardo with relative ease and set his sights on Leclerc up the road, it became a battle with multiple DRS trains down the order with Sainz trying to get by the RB with Piastri holding on and Magnussen was back to doing the same thing during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in creating a DRS train to help his teammate and doing his best to try to hold up Hamilton.

While Max Verstappen was holding onto his lead and complaining of “zero rear grip”, Magnussen had just been handed his first 10-second penalty of the day for leaving the track in Turns 14 and 15 and gaining an advantage in his defense on Hamilton. Moments later in Turn 11, the same thing happened as he went wide and rejoined the track, banging wheels with the seven-time World Champion.

This all came to a head as Hamilton seemingly got cleared of Magnussen going into Turn 11. However, the Haas went into the corner deep, made it back out on track, pushing the Mercedes out wide, and let a charging Tsunoda on the Soft tires get by Hamilton, landing Magnussen yet another 10-second time penalty. But with all that now done, both Tsunoda and Hamilton made their way by the Haas. But that was not before it was announced that Hamilton would be investigated for speeding in the pit lane during the SC.

As the drama unfolded behind him, Verstappen cruised to yet another Sprint victory, ahead of Leclerc and Perez. Ricciardo handled the charging Sainz with a friendly gesture, crossing the line to close out the Top 5. Piastri finished in sixth while Hulkenberg was able to claim seventh. Even though Hamilton had gotten by Tsunoda in the closing laps, a drive-through penalty was assessed to the Mercedes driver, effectively giving him a 20-second penalty, dropping him out of the points.

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 leads the field into turn one at the start during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 04, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Just outside the points-paying positions came Pierre Gasly’s Alpine ahead of Sargeant. Zhou Guanyu’s Kick Sauber finished ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell, Albon, Bottas and Ocon. Alonso had to settle between the penalized Hamilton and Magnussen to finish up the runners at the end.

With the Sprint Race now in the rearview mirror, the Grand Prix qualifying took center stage. Teams had an opportunity to make changes to their cars. As the cars took to the track, it became a game to see which teams could catch the evolutions of the surface to grab the quickest time.

As Verstappen, Perez, and Sainz all exchanged the fastest laps as the session wore on, it was a pleasant surprise showcase from Gasly’s Alpine that saw him come up to fifth on the timing charts as the clock winded down. However, there was disappointment from Visa Cash App RB as Ricciardo was not showing any measurable pace as he couldn’t make his way out of the bottom five, with a three-place grid penalty looming.

As the clock struck zero for the first round, Ricciardo was joined by the Kick Saubers of Bottas, Guanyu, Sargeant, and Magnussen.

As the second round began, Red Bull opted to have both Verstappen and Perez run on a set of used Soft tires, which meant their first runs were not representative of their pace. But as Leclerc hopped to the top of the timing sheets and held onto it through the rest of the session, it became clear that the battle for pole position would be close between those two teams.

However, Aston Martin’s unlucky day continued as both Stroll and Alonso could not find any pace in the second round and were eliminated for running for pole position at the same time. They were joined with both Alpines of Gasly and Ocon while Albon was able to survive a close encounter with the barriers but did not advance into the final round.

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 04, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

With the final round starting, drivers were ready to make their first runs. Verstappen laid down an early benchmark ahead of both Ferraris and his teammate, while the McLarens of Norris and Piastri were hoping to keep it closer. But the true action came as the drivers went out of their second runs in hopes of improving their times.

But the track evolution did not match up with teams being able to improve their times as he came across the line with no improvement to his time, but thankfully to him, neither Leclerc nor Sainz were making improvements to their time. As the clock winded down, Verstappen held onto the pole position and tied the record for most pole positions in a row in a season at six, ahead of Leclerc and Sainz.

Perez could only settle for fourth ahead of Norris and Piastri while the Mercedes duo of Russell and Hamilton were unable to improve their times on Medium tires in seventh and eighth. Good runs from Hulkenberg and Tsunoda rounded out the Top 10.

With the grid set, the Miami Grand Prix is now the main focus. Max Verstappen hopes to claim a hat trick of victories at the Miami International Autodrome. However, both Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have hopes to keep in close.