Max Verstappen arrived late for the 2025 Miami Grand Prix following the birth of his and Kelly Piquet’s baby, but Sprint Qualifying was not perfect for the Red Bull driver.
The 27-year-old is a father for the first time and he skipped Media Day for the Miami GP this Thursday to attend the birth of his baby girl, Lily. Verstappen will not miss any races, though, and qualified P4 for the F1 Sprint at the Miami GP this Friday night with a 1:26.737 lap time.
Verstappen won the Sprint at the 2024 Miami GP when the track based within the car parks of Hard Rock Stadium first staged the 100km race. The Dutchman also won the Grand Prix in 2022 and 2023, but Lando Norris won his first F1 race at the 2024 Miami GP to finish his run.
Lance Stroll brands Max Verstappen ‘so dangerous’ after their Miami Sprint Qualifying impeding incident
Sprint Qualifying was not a perfect session for Verstappen, either, as the Red Bull driver held up a number of his rivals amid SQ1. The four-time reigning F1 drivers’ championship winner also held up his Red Bull teammate as Yuki Tsunoda failed to get out of SQ1 in Miami in P18.
Verstappen also impeded Lance Stroll in SQ1 in Miami as the Aston Martin driver even failed to get through to the second part of Sprint Qualifying. The 26-year-old bowed out in P16 as he could not improve on the Canadian’s 1:29.029 benchmark time from Stroll’s first SQ1 lap.
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Stroll had to swerve just before the braking zone for the final corner as Verstappen dawdled on the racing line as the Montreal native completed his final run in SQ1. It meant he did not improve after managing a 1:29.053, and Stroll did not hide his anger at Verstappen’s actions.
“The guy in the last corner was so dangerous,” Stroll fumed. “He just stayed on the line.”
Lance Stroll echoes George Russell’s complaints about Max Verstappen’s qualifying antics
Stroll is not the first Formula 1 driver to accuse Verstappen of driving treacherously during a qualifying session. Mercedes driver George Russell also accused Verstappen of being “super dangerous” when blocked by the Dutchman during qualifying for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix.
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Neither Verstappen nor Russell were on a flying lap when the Red Bull pilot opted to go slow through the high-speed Turns 12-13-14 right-handed sequence. But the reigning champion’s decision to lift forced the Briton to take avoiding action and also run through the gravel trap.
The stewards at Lusail would slap Verstappen with a one-place grid penalty, which stripped him of pole position for the 2024 Qatar GP and gifted it to Russell. It also triggered a war of words and Russell claimed Verstappen threatened to force him into a wall in Qatar, as well.
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