McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admitted his drivers should have locked out the front row of the grid for the Miami Grand Prix.
However Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will line up second and fourth respectively for today’s race.
The pair weren’t able to produce their quickest sector times when it counted in the final moments of Q3. Two drivers who did took advantage: Max Verstappen, who claimed his third pole position of the year, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who split the McLaren drivers for third place.
Among those who reached Q3, only one other driver produced his three best sector times on the same lap: Williams’ Carlos Sainz Jnr, who claimed sixth:
Sector times
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | 28.337 (2) | 32.901 (1) | 24.778 (5) | 1’26.016 (+0.253) |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 28.413 (3) | 33.032 (4) | 24.728 (2) | 1’26.173 (+0.096) |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | 28.246 (1) | 33.079 (5) | 24.879 (11) | 1’26.204 |
| 4 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 28.484 (4) | 32.983 (2) | 24.804 (7) | 1’26.271 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | 28.510 (5) | 33.007 (3) | 24.756 (4) | 1’26.273 (+0.112) |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 28.707 (12) | 33.113 (6) | 24.749 (3) | 1’26.569 |
| 7 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 28.633 (7) | 33.225 (8) | 24.788 (6) | 1’26.646 (+0.036) |
| 8 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 28.668 (9) | 33.283 (9) | 24.726 (1) | 1’26.677 (+0.077) |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 28.690 (10) | 33.136 (7) | 24.858 (9) | 1’26.684 (+0.140) |
| 10 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | 28.551 (6) | 33.318 (12) | 24.982 (17) | 1’26.851 (+0.092) |
| 11 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 28.808 (16) | 33.309 (11) | 24.836 (8) | 1’26.953 (+0.198) |
| 12 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 28.734 (13) | 33.302 (10) | 24.945 (14) | 1’26.981 (+0.025) |
| 13 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | 28.705 (11) | 33.422 (13) | 24.860 (10) | 1’26.987 |
| 14 | 7 | Jack Doohan | 28.643 (8) | 33.520 (15) | 25.005 (18) | 1’27.168 (+0.018) |
| 15 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 28.781 (15) | 33.484 (14) | 24.945 (14) | 1’27.210 (+0.263) |
| 16 | 30 | Liam Lawson | 28.748 (14) | 33.557 (16) | 24.951 (16) | 1’27.256 (+0.107) |
| 17 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 28.851 (17) | 33.868 (20) | 24.885 (12) | 1’27.604 |
| 18 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 28.962 (18) | 33.714 (17) | 25.034 (19) | 1’27.710 |
| 19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 29.106 (19) | 33.837 (19) | 24.887 (13) | 1’27.830 |
| 20 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | 29.116 (20) | 33.765 (18) | 25.061 (20) | 1’27.942 (+0.057) |
Teams’ performance
While McLaren and Red Bull have tended to have the upper hand at most races so far this year, Mercedes have been in the hunt as well. Antonelli has looked consistently more comfortable in the W16 at Miami than Russell, and out-qualified him for both this weekend’s races, but slipped back early in the sprint race after losing his advantage from pole position at the start.
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It’s been a grim weekend so far for Aston Martin, however. While every team is lapping quicker than they did at this race last year, the AMR25s have made the smallest steps of all, and were slowest in qualifying for the grand prix. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both dropped out in Q1.
Field performance
Verstappen lost his Miami course record to Antonelli in qualifying for the sprint race but the Red Bull driver took it back when he claimed pole position for the grand prix. But the McLaren drivers must feel they could have gone even faster still.
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