Max Verstappen has once again shown why he’s a World Champion – three pole positions in the last four race weekends, despite McLaren clearly being the fastest car on the grid.

We witnessed some truly exciting qualifying action in Miami, so let’s take a look at who came out as winners and who struggled after this session.

Miami GP Qualifying: Winners and Losers

Max Verstappen is truly in incredible form – constantly fighting for pole position, while his teammate in the same car is struggling just to reach Q3. This time, Yuki Tsunoda finished qualifying in tenth place.

When it comes to negative surprises, the biggest one from this qualifying session is definitely Lewis Hamilton, who failed to make it into the top 10.

Looking at the midfield, there were some really strong results, such as Esteban Ocon in the Haas being faster than Yuki, as well as both Williams drivers who qualified P6 and P7 and will be fighting for points in the race.

Winner: Max Verstappen

As mentioned, three poles in the last four weekends – simply outstanding. During his second flying lap in Q3, we saw a small error in Sector 1, but Max still managed to clock the fastest time.

What makes this even more impressive is that both McLaren drivers had faster ideal laps, but weren’t able to piece their best sectors together in one single run.

Max made his gains through the fast sequence of corners – Turns 4, 5, and 6 – as well as in the slower corners of Sector 2. Norris was significantly quicker through Turn 16, and just before entry to Turn 17, their times were virtually identical. However, the Brit ran too aggressively over the kerbs in T17, lost valuable time, and ultimately threw away pole position.

Loser: Lewis Hamilton

Just hours after stepping onto the podium, a very poor result for the seven-time World Champion. For the first time this season, Hamilton failed to make it into Q3 although he always seemed on the bubble of being knocked out.

If we compare the fastest Q2 laps of Hamilton and Leclerc, we see that Sector 3 was where Lewis lost out – he was actually ahead until then.

A slightly weaker exit through T16 allowed Leclerc to close the gap in the DRS zone. After that, Hamilton made an error in T17, compromising his line through the final two corners and losing time.

Even top drivers need time to adapt to a new car, but it seems Lewis is taking longer than most fans expected – especially for someone of his calibre.

Winner: Kimi Antonelli

Kimi Antonelli clearly left the Sprint disappointment behind and once again showcased what kind of talent he possesses. On the Miami track, he managed to split the two McLaren drivers and will once again start ahead of Oscar Piastri for the main race.

Kimi was strong in Sectors 1 and 2, as well as in the final corners. Although he used less throttle through the high-speed turns compared to Verstappen, he still posted better times – mainly due to a different aero setup, as Red Bull opted for a more loaded rear wing.

Loser: Oscar Piastri

Currently leading the Drivers’ Championship, Oscar Piastri qualified in fourth place.

Interestingly, the Australian was the only driver in Q3 who didn’t improve his time in the final qualifying segment. After a weaker Turn 4 in Sector 1, his gap to Max already exceeded 0.3s. Mistakes in such fast sections are costly, and his deficit only increased in Sector 2.

Oscar now faces a crucial race if he wants to retain the lead in the standings.

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Winner: Williams

The Williams team enjoyed their best qualifying performance of the season in Miami – P6 and P7 – giving them a strong chance at points in the race. It marks a notable improvement from last year, and they’ll now look to strengthen their grip on P5 in the Constructors’ standings.

The FW47 is a significantly upgraded car compared to last season. While it retains its top-speed advantage, it now also offers better cornering stability.

A positive sign for the team is that Sainz has adapted well to the car and is now able to extract its full potential.

Loser: Ferrari

With Charles Leclerc in P8 and Lewis Hamilton in P12, this was far from a good session for the Italian team. The fact that both Williams drivers qualified ahead of the Ferrari pair is not something they’ll be proud of.

Both drivers are clearly struggling, both in qualifying and the race, to perform at the level expected of them.

A comparison of Verstappen and Leclerc’s fastest laps shows that the Ferrari driver is losing time all around the circuit. The SF-25 is highly sensitive to setup, and right now it seems almost impossible to extract strong results from it. We’ll see whether Ferrari can recover with a bold race strategy.

Winner: Esteban Ocon

For the first time this season, Esteban Ocon made it into Q3 – a very solid result for Haas. His teammate managed this only once before in Japan a few weeks ago.

Ocon will start the main race from P9, and if the Haas team gets their strategy right, he’s certainly in the fight for points.

Loser: Pierre Gasly

For the first time this year, Pierre Gasly was the slower of the two Alpine drivers in qualifying. The Frenchman has had a strong season, often maximising his car’s potential weekend after weekend.

However, he had a very poor lap in Q1 and failed to progress further, meaning he’ll start from a distant P18.

His teammate Jack Doohan made it to Q2, and a comparison of their Q1 lap times shows that Gasly lost most of his time in Sector 1, while both were fairly even across the rest of the track.

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