Alpine is weighing up whether to replace Jack Doohan with Franco Colapinto ahead of the next race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Doohan’s seat has been under constant scrutiny ever since he was promoted one race early at the season-ending Abu …
Alpine is weighing up whether to replace Jack Doohan with Franco Colapinto ahead of the next race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Doohan’s seat has been under constant scrutiny ever since he was promoted one race early at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year. The Australian rookie had been announced as an Alpine race driver in August, but the emergence of Colapinto on the driver market – who brings a resume of strong performances for Williams along with significant interest from Argentina – made him a candidate for a future race seat.
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Alpine moved to sign Colapinto on loan from Williams over the winter, which Williams team principal James Vowles confirmed was due to the expectation that the 21-year-old would be promoted into a race seat at some stage.
According to RACER’s sources, the team is now determing whether that time will come ahead of the start of the European season at Imola in two weeks.
Colapinto has been waiting in the wings at Alpine, but a wobbly start to the season by Doohan might lead to the Argentinian getting his call-up as early as the next race. Jayce Illman/Getty Images
Should Colapinto take over Doohan’s seat, the change would come after just seven races for Doohan – six this season – during which time he has displayed encouraging pace, but had heavy crashes on the opening lap in Australia and during practice at Suzuka.
Doohan voiced his frustration at the team after being eliminated in SQ1 in Miami on Friday, and despite outqualifying team-mate Pierre Gasly for the first time on Saturday, his race ended after a first corner collision with Liam Lawson.
“Unfortunately the things that have gone wrong this weekend have been outside of my control,” Doohan said on Sunday. “But you always have to reflect as well and see in those situations if there was anything that I could have done better. So I will be reflecting on that for a brief period of time before just switching my focus to the upcoming race in Imola.”
Despite those comments – and team principal Oliver Oakes stating on Friday that “as it is today, Jack is our driver along with Pierre” – there is a growing possibility that Colapinto will return to a race seat.
Alpine is currently ninth in the constructors’ championship on seven points, all scored by Pierre Gasly. Doohan remains one of four drivers – along with Fernando Alonso, Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto – who are yet to score this season. Last year, Colapinto scored five points in nine starts for Williams.
The Miami Grand Prix delivered on multiple fronts and provided one of those great race weekends when there are a number of talking points to hone in on. One big one relates to a team that was nowhere near a podium finish on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton’s …
The Miami Grand Prix delivered on multiple fronts and provided one of those great race weekends when there are a number of talking points to hone in on.
One big one relates to a team that was nowhere near a podium finish on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton’s radio messages became a highlight of the second half of the race, when he called on Ferrari to swap positions between himself and Charles Leclerc – the latter on hard tires compared to the mediums Hamilton was running.
As Ferrari tried to work out the best thing to do with its drivers – Carlos Sainz was within 2s behind, but Kimi Antonelli potentially a catchable 5s ahead — Hamilton complained when he was initially told to hold position. Once the team told him that it would make the swap, Hamilton sarcastically replied, “Yeah, have a tea break while you’re at it! Come on…”
There was a later tongue-in-cheek message joking about whether he should let Sainz through too after returning the position to Leclerc, as Hamilton appeared frustrated about the time it was taking for Ferrari to make decisions.
“It wasn’t even anger,” Hamilton said of his messages. “It wasn’t like ‘effing’ and ‘blinding’ and anything like that. It’s like, ‘Make a decision! You’re sitting there on the chair, you’ve got the stuff in front of you; make the decision quick.’ That’s how I was. I was me; we’re in a panic, we’re trying to keep the car on the track, we’re computing things fast.
“Jeez, I mean, it was all PG at least, right?! For sure, I don’t know what you’re going to write, or whether I was disrespectful or whatever. I honestly don’t feel I was. I was like, ‘Come on guys, I want to win.’ I’ve still got my fire in my belly. I could feel a bit of it really coming up there.
“I’m not going to apologize for being a fighter. I’m not going to apologize for still wanting it. I know everyone in the team does too, and I truly believe that when we fix some of the problems that we have with the car, we’ll be back in the fight with the Mercedes, with the [Red] Bulls. It just can’t come quick enough.
“We’ll try something different in the next race. We’ll keep working on the processes. I look forward to a time when maybe I can fight for a podium. That would be nice.”
Even after ample work in the garage, Ferrari still couldn’t get the car up to a properly competitive speed at Miami. Mark Thompson/Getty Images
The focus was on complaints from both Ferrari drivers about the way the race was being handled, but there were signs of progress in one of the two main areas of concern coming into the weekend. Team orders were required because both drivers were fighting for the same positions on track, and while Hamilton was slightly aided by the timing of a virtual safety car, he had shown comparable pace to his teammate.
That was a far cry from Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, when Hamilton was extremely downbeat and unable to get the car performing in a way he was happy with. Leclerc scored a podium then, while Hamilton labored to seventh place. This time around, his seventh place was on par with what Leclerc was able to achieve.
“I genuinely enjoyed the race,” he said. “I think this weekend, whilst we’re not as quick as we want to be, I feel like I had a better weekend in general. The result might not show it necessarily today, but I was 12th. Very hard to overtake here, cars were obviously so close. I got onto the medium tire, and I felt the car really come alive, and I felt super optimistic in that moment.
“All I could see is the [Mercedes] up ahead, and I was thinking maybe we can get up to sixth or something. We lost a lot of time in those laps where Charles and I were battling, and I was clearly quicker in that moment. I didn’t think the decision came quick enough.
“For sure, in that time you’re like, ‘Come on!’ But yeah, that’s really kind of it. I have no problems with the team or with Charles. I think we could do better. The car is where we really need to be [focused]. Ultimately we’re fighting for seventh and eighth, so…”
Therein lies the major area of concern for Ferrari. Two identical P7 finishes for Hamilton illicit a totally different response from the driver, and a totally different response from his team principal Fred Vasseur, who initially was concerned about any potential fallout from his drivers.
“Fred came to my room,” Hamilton said. “I just put my hand on his shoulder and was like, ‘Dude, calm down. Don’t be so sensitive.’ I could have said way worse things on the radio — you hear some of the things others have said in the past. Some of it was sarcasm.
“Look, you’ve got to understand we’re under a huge amount of pressure within the car. You’re never going to get the most peaceful messages coming through in the heat of the battle.”
The debrief will be far more painful for Ferrari, though, as it was fairly comfortably beaten by Alex Albon’s Williams and both Mercedes drivers, plus Max Verstappen. But the real gap that needs to be addressed — as it does for all of the chasing pack — is to McLaren.
A struggle it may be, team principal Fred Vasseur still understands the fire he hears on the radio and remains a steady voice. Peter Fox/Getty Images
While Mercedes and Red Bull will be concerned by a half-minute deficit, for Ferrari, the margin to McLaren was nearly an entire minute. Vasseur acknowledges that is an outcome that cannot be allowed to be lost in any way amid the chatter around team radio messages.
“I had a discussion with Lewis and I can perfectly understand the frustration,” Vasseur said. “They are champions, they want to win races. We are asking them to let the team go. It’s not easy. It’s never easy. I didn’t see another team do it today.
“That’s why we took the responsibility to do it — because it’s the policy to the team. We are racing for Ferrari first and honestly I think as a team we did a good job.
“Again, you can argue that it would have been better to do it half a lap before or half a lap later. But when you are on the pit wall and you have to understand if the car behind is faster than the car in front, if it’s just for DRS or not, it’s not an easy call.
“It’s always much easier to do it two hours later. We asked them to do it, they did it. Now, the frustration when you are in the car, I can perfectly understand this. We had a discussion and it was much more relaxed.
“[That’s] not the story of the day. We did P6-7, instead of P7-6, or P6-7, or P7-6. I would be much more keen to speak about why we finished one minute behind McLaren.”
Vasseur clearly won’t shy away from it, but that is a far tougher topic to address than radio communications with the drivers — and a very daunting gap to try and reduce heading to one of Ferrari’s home grands prix in Imola next time out.
Lando Norris says he can’t win in a battle with Max Verstappen as he will always be criticized for his approach, after losing time with the defending champion in the Miami Grand Prix. Verstappen ran Norris wide at Turn 2 at the start of the race and …
Lando Norris says he can’t win in a battle with Max Verstappen as he will always be criticized for his approach, after losing time with the defending champion in the Miami Grand Prix.
Verstappen ran Norris wide at Turn 2 at the start of the race and the McLaren dropped to sixth place before climbing back into third and being within a second of Verstappen when teammate Oscar Piastri took the lead. That was a crucial period of the race as Piastri cleared Verstappen after a battle for a number of laps and then escaped up the road to the tune of 9s while Norris struggled to get past the Red Bull.
“What can I say? If I don’t go for it, people complain. If I go for it, people complain, so you can’t win,” Norris said. “But it’s the way it is with Max – it’s crash or don’t pass. Unless you get it really right and you put him in the perfect position, then you can just about get there. I paid the price for not doing a good enough job today. I’m still happy with second.”
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Norris was also critical of Verstappen’s approach at the start of the race, claiming the Dutchman’s defense cost him a chance of finishing higher himself.
“It was fine. He’s fighting hard, but it’s up to him to do that,” he said. “He’s ruining his own race. He’s not racing very smart. We probably could have finished 1-2 today, and didn’t because of that. So he’s fighting, that is always expected, but that’s what it is.”
After finally getting into second place, the margin to Piastri effectively doubled from the gap that existed between the McLaren drivers prior to their respective battles with Verstappen, but Norris said he still believed he could put pressure on his teammate until the closing stages of Piastri’s victory.
“I gave it a good shot from when I got into second,” he said. “There was a long way to go — I think 25, 30 laps almost at that point. I probably only stopped pushing the last four to five laps. The gap went from almost 10s to 4s or 3s, almost. I did all I could.
“I tried the whole race, basically, until the very end. I kept belief the whole race, but Oscar’s driving well. He’s quick. To catch from 10s was always going to be impossible, but I gave it a good shot. I almost got there. Just not enough laps.”
Red Bull has has a a protest against George Russell rejected after claiming the Mercedes driver failed to slow for yellow flags during the Miami Grand Prix. Russell jumped ahead of Max Verstappen during the pit stop phase of Sunday’s race, with the …
Red Bull has has a a protest against George Russell rejected after claiming the Mercedes driver failed to slow for yellow flags during the Miami Grand Prix.
Russell jumped ahead of Max Verstappen during the pit stop phase of Sunday’s race, with the Mercedes driver able to make a stop under virtual safety car conditions and finish in third place. However, when Gabriel Bortoleto retired on lap 33, Verstappen radioed his team to check if Russell had slowed down under yellow flags.
The Dutchman was later told to stay within 5s of Russell despite no messages on race control about any investigation, and after Verstappen finished 2.3s adrift of the Mercedes, Red Bull then protested against Russell.
However, the stewards determined Russell had significantly lifted off the throttle in response to the yellow flag, and rejected Red Bull’s claim on the basis that his speed had still been increasing on part throttle.
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“It was evident from the onboard footage as well as from telemetry that Car No. 63 lifted the throttle when passing the yellow flag zone,” the stewards said. “The throttle was lifted by approx. 25 percent and this resulted in a reduction of torque of approx. 30 percent.
“Article 26.1. a) requires the driver to have “discernibly reduced speed” in a yellow flag zone but does not specify if that means reducing the absolute speed or reducing the speed relative to the regular racing speed in the relevant part of the track.
“The speed of Car No. 63 in the yellow flag zone was considerably slower than the regular racing speed, but the absolute speed while passing through the yellow flag zone increased slightly.
“The Stewards determine that the requirement of Article 26.1 a) concerning the reduction of speed in a yellow flag zone can only relate to a reduction relative to the regular racing speed as the reduction of the absolute speed can, depending on the part of the track in which the yellow flag is displayed, represent a compliance or a non-compliance with the regulations whereas a reduction of the relative speed always signals that the driver has acknowledged and respected the yellow flag. For instance, in a braking zone the absolute speed can be reduced without necessarily complying with the regulations.”
The rejection of the appeal confirms Russell in third place ahead of Verstappen in fourth.
Separately, both Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly were also given warnings for failing to slow under yellow flags having only been shown a single waved yellow — and no light panel — that was displayed against a yellow background. With no other audible warning and Bortoleto’s stricken car hidden behind a barrier, the stewards accepted mitigating circumstances meant the drivers were unaware of the yellow flag zone.
German racer Jochen Mass, a winner in Formula 1 and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has died at the age of 78, his family has revealed. Mass passed away in Cannes, France, from the effects of a stroke suffered earlier this year. The German native …
German racer Jochen Mass, a winner in Formula 1 and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has died at the age of 78, his family has revealed. Mass passed away in Cannes, France, from the effects of a stroke suffered earlier this year.
The German native competed in 105 F1 races from 1973-82, driving for a number of elite teams, with his lone victory coming with McLaren in the Spanish Grand Prix in 1975 that was shortened due to a number of accidents. This was the same race in which Lella Lombardi became the first and still the only woman to score a world championship point.
Mass was active in endurance racing during much of his career in F1, but focused on it after opting to leave grand prix racing. The move paid off with his victory at Le Mans in 1989 with the Sauber-Mercedes team.
After retiring from racing, Mass drove the Mercedes-Benz museums stable of historic race cars at charity and vintage events (he’s pictured above at Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2019) and also served as a TV commentator for the German network RTL’s F1 coverage. He also played himself in a cameo in the 2013 F1 feature film “Rush,” directed by Ron Howard.
Oscar Piastri led a dominant McLaren one-two finish ahead of Lando Norris at the Miami Grand Prix, beating the field by more than half a minute. Piastri capitalized on a chaotic first lap that saw polesitter Max Verstappen and front-row starter …
Oscar Piastri led a dominant McLaren one-two finish ahead of Lando Norris at the Miami Grand Prix, beating the field by more than half a minute.
Piastri capitalized on a chaotic first lap that saw polesitter Max Verstappen and front-row starter Lando Norris come to blows at Turn 2, sending the Briton off the track.
Norris had the fractionally better start, and a Verstappen lock-up allowed him to get down the inside of the Red Bull Racing car into the first turn. The move left Norris hanging on the outside of Turn 2, where a Verstappen knock pushed him off track. The Dutchman continued in the lead, but Norris fell to sixth as he rejoined the track.
Kimi Antonelli was next up to try a move on Verstappen, but the teenager’s challenge lasted only until the end of the lap, when a lock-up into the first corner opened the door to Piastri, who pinched second place on lap four on the blast down to Turn 11.
By lap nine the Australian was within striking distance of the lead, but Verstappen wasn’t about to make it easy for him.
“Stay on the inside, Max. Make him work for it,” the Dutchman was told by engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
He rebuffed attempts at the first turn and again at Turn 10, Piastri clinging to the Red Bull Racing gearbox throughout the lap until a minor lock-up back at Turn 1 dropped him fractionally off the pace.
By lap 13 he was on the Dutchman’s tail again, and a strong exit from the final hairpin drew him alongside into the first turn.
Verstappen attempted to defend deep on the brakes, but a lock-up sent him sailing off the road. Piastri saw it coming, remaining wide and then sweeping comfortably down the inside to take the lead.
Verstappen held the McLarens at bay for a while, but Piastri played it out perfectly. Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
“Brakes, man,” Verstappen vented on team radio. “Useless.”
Norris was making similarly strong progress after his compromised start with a string of decisive moves on Alex Albon, George Russell and Antonelli until he was third on lap nine. The Briton benefitted from Piastri and Verstappen’s long scrap for the lead, drawing him close, and by lap 15 he too was challenging the Dutchman for position.
Verstappen pulled the same defensive moves, barging Norris off the road at the first turn and holding the inside line. He briefly got through on lap 17, but a late-braking move down the inside of Turn 11 put both cars off track, and he handed the place back at the final hairpin to avoid a penalty.
On the next lap he didn’t make the same error, nailing the braking zone to deprive Verstappen of second place permanently, his recovery complete.
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Piastri, meanwhile, made the most of his time in clear air, and his teammate’s long battle, to stretch his advantage. By the time Norris moved into second place, the Australian was 9s up the road.
Both made their sole stops during a virtual safety car for Oliver Bearman’s stopped Haas on lap 29, neutralizing any potential strategic battle. Though Norris made small inroads in the second stint on the hard tire, particularly while they navigated lapped traffic, the gap ultimately proved insurmountable.
Piastri took the checkered flag by 4.6s, claiming his third successive victory and fourth in five rounds to stretch his title lead to 16 points.
“Obviously there was a bit of argy-bargy at Turn 1, which helped me out a little bit,” he said. “I knew I had a good pace advantage. The car was unbelievable today.
“I think the first stint was really, really strong. The hard [second] stint I was honestly struggling a little bit, so it was a good thing I built that gap in the first stint. Very, very happy to leave Miami on top.”
Norris lamented his first-lap battle with Verstappen dropping him out of victory contention but praised the team for building a car capable of gapping the field by 33s, his margin back to third place.
“The team have done an amazing job,” he said. “I can’t fault them at all — good pit stops, great pace, we were up the road. It was a good feeling. Max put up a good fight as always, and I paid the price, but that’s the way it is.”
Russell held off a fast-finishing Verstappen after having been promoted into third with a cheap pit stop during Bearman’s virtual safety car. Having started on hard, the Briton ended the race on the quicker mediums, but in the final 10 laps momentum swung back towards Verstappen’s hard tires, allowing him to close to within 1.5s of the Mercedes. He never got close enough to launch a move, and Russell claimed his fourth podium finish of the year with a 2.3s advantage.
“I was pretty calm and I felt really good within the car to keep him behind me, so that was good,” Russell said. “Really happy to come away with P3, because I’ve been struggling this weekend and always on the back foot, but ultimately when it mattered I got a good result today.”
Alex Albon was a superb fifth, splitting Antonelli from the leaders after the pit stops. The Mercedes driver had a slow stop that dropped him out of the podium battle, but the Williams driver’s pressure forced an error from the Italian into he first turn to take the place. Albon thereafter had the pace to hold the place on merit.
Antonelli finished sixth in part thanks to Ferrari’s mismanagement of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in seventh and eighth, twice swapping the drivers in the second stint alone as they each argued they were faster over team radio. Neither had the pace to catch Antonelli with any vigor, the Monegasque and the Briton ending the race frustrated in seventh and eighth respectively.
Carlos Sainz finished ninth after being double-teamed by the Ferrari drivers after the pit stops. He attempted to take back eighth from Hamilton at the final hairpin on the last lap but ended up clumsily T-boning the Ferrari, though both escaped unscathed and their order unchanged.
Yuki Tsunoda finished 10th for the final point with a large enough buffer to absorb a 5s penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Isack Hadjar finished 11th ahead of Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg and Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, last of the finishers.
Liam Lawson retired after 36 laps following heavy contact with Jack Doohan on the first lap that put the Australian out of the race. Gabriel Bortoleto joined Bearman on the retirement list with engine problems.
Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari needs to make improvements to its car after dropping out in Q2 at the Miami Grand Prix despite a top three finish in the Sprint. Both Ferrari drivers qualified in the top seven for the Sprint but Charles Leclerc crashed …
Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari needs to make improvements to its car after dropping out in Q2 at the Miami Grand Prix despite a top three finish in the Sprint.
Both Ferrari drivers qualified in the top seven for the Sprint but Charles Leclerc crashed on the way to the grid in wet conditions, while Hamilton was struggling before a well-timed early pit stop for slick tires helped him salvage an impressive third place. Qualifying in the dry on Saturday afternoon was a different story, with Hamilton eliminated in 12th and Leclerc only eighth, and the seven-time world champion says the Ferrari is just not competitive enough in Miami.
“It was a difficult session, obviously mixed emotions,” Hamilton said. “A good, decent result, but it wasn’t pure pace, it was a good call in the strategy, but on pure pace we didn’t have it in the race. I was one of the first here this morning to make sure we took the right steps through the day, and it didn’t make any difference.
“Just think it’s nice [to score the Sprint result] but pure pace … I mean we were out-qualified by the Williams. James [Vowles] and his team are doing an amazing job, but pure pace, that’s where we are.
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“Charles was fortunate to get through [to Q3] with … I think he had a new tire, so that just got him through. I had an extra new tire, so we should have used that.
“The Sprint race was better [than] qualifying. But we are where we are. We need some upgrades, we need some improvements. We’ve got lots of things that need to be better.”
Teammate Leclerc was also keen to stress there was no more performance in the car after his qualifying result, but Hamilton says that doesn’t make him feel better given how far off the frontrunners both are.
“I don’t feel it in my heart,” he said. “I’m trying everything, we’re trying everything. The smallest bit of time today meant I was out. If we’d gone out with a new tire I probably would have been in Q3. And then it would just be … maybe I’ll be eighth or ninth with Charles.
“So it doesn’t make a huge difference. But the fact is we are trying and we don’t have the pace by far at the moment.”
With more rain forecast for Sunday that could open up opportunities, Hamilton says such conditions aren’t necessarily a strength for Ferrari either.
“The car was not good in the wet this morning,” he said. “I don’t know if it will be tomorrow, either. We’ll see. I’ll do a lot of praying tonight, of course. There’s opportunity for sure. If it started dry and then went wet or something like that, it could be kind of neat, but you’ve got to be lucky as well.”
Max Verstappen says his pole position at the Miami Grand Prix proves that becoming a father for the first time has not made him slower. The defending champion arrived late in Miami following the birth of his first child – a daughter called Lily – …
Max Verstappen says his pole position at the Miami Grand Prix proves that becoming a father for the first time has not made him slower.
The defending champion arrived late in Miami following the birth of his first child — a daughter called Lily — with partner Kelly Piquet, and qualified fourth for the Sprint before a Red Bull pit stop error took him out of the points. Verstappen responded with a strong performance in Q3 to secure pole position ahead of Lando Norris by 0.065s, and says it proves there has been no impact on his performance.
“It’s been good to be able to spend a few days at home before coming here,” Verstappen said. “When she’s just born, you want to make sure everything is OK. Clearly it didn’t make me slower as well, being a dad! So that’s the positive. We can throw that out of the window as well for people mentioning it.
“When I was here, honestly, it’s just quite fluent. Anyway, I’m in contact a lot with my girlfriend throughout the day, getting pictures and FaceTime a bit. It’s always there. But now one more member in the family.
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“I don’t really listen to these kind of silly things; I just do my thing. I think there are enough racing drivers in the past that have been World Champion even after having kids, you know? I don’t even know where that comes from.”
Red Bull brought a floor update to Miami that Verstappen says has helped him become a little more comfortable in the car and may have played a role in his pole position, but he’s still wary of the challenges ahead trying to convert that into victory on Sunday.
“We are still struggling a little bit with our limitations in the car, but I do think that we’ve been quite decent over a lap. If you look at the cornering — we’re a bit slow on the straight this week [compared to] McLaren and Mercedes, and they took a new engine and of course that always gives a little bit more power than a used engine.
“It seems like it’s a little bit better. Of course, the long run is a different story. The tires get really hot around here, but tomorrow I don’t know what will happen in terms of rain or not, how warm it will be. To be honest, the colder it is I think the better.”
Max Verstappen scored his third pole in four grands prix by pipping Lando Norris to top spot in qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix. McLaren started the session as favorite to lock out the front row after scoring a comfortable one-two in the sprint, …
Max Verstappen scored his third pole in four grands prix by pipping Lando Norris to top spot in qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.
McLaren started the session as favorite to lock out the front row after scoring a comfortable one-two in the sprint, but Verstappen executed flawlessly to capitalize on another pair of scrappy performances from Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen maximized his Red Bull Racing car’s advantage in the first sector to overcome McLaren’s better run around the rest of the lap. He was almost 0.2s quicker than Norris in the first sector despite his rear axle snapping out on entry into the first turn. From there he did enough to minimize the losses, emerging with a 0.065s advantage.
“It’s been a great qualifying,” he said. “I think we improved the car a tiny amount as well, which helped me to rotate it a bit better.
“Q1, Q2, Q3, just improving every run, really trying to find the limit. Around here it’s just very complicated with the tires over a lap, but in the end it worked out well. I’m very happy to be on pole.”
Norris’s fastest middle sector wasn’t enough to counter Verstappen in the first split, but the Briton was pleased to be the lead McLaren driver after a tough qualifying run before Miami.
“I’m happy with today,” he said. “I’m happy with the progress I’ve been making with the car, with myself,” he said. “I didn’t deliver, but the pace was there. The car’s still been feeling good. I’ve been feeling better than I have done over the past weekends.”
Sprint polesitter Kimi Antonelli scored his best-ever qualifying result for a grand prix with third. The 18-year-old Mercedes driver was only 0.002s slower than Norris, which was more than fast enough to split him from teammate Piastri.
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“This weekend is going well so far,” he said. “I struggled a little bit during quali. I didn’t have such a clean run like I did yesterday, but that last lap was quite good.
“Definitely the gaps are super tight. Definitely if you can gain just a few hundredths, you can gain so many places. It’s just about putting everything together. So far this weekend I’ve been doing that. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race.”
The result places him at the head of the second row alongside Piastri after the pair battled for the lead of the sprint in the same configuration on the front row.
Piastri was 0.171s off the pace after a lackluster second lap, putting him just 0.01s ahead of George Russell. Carlos Sainz outqualified Williams teammate Alex Albon for the third grand prix in a row, the pair set to start sixth and seventh on the grid. Charles Leclerc struggled to eighth for Ferrari, telling the team after he finished Q2 in a similar position that there was nothing more to be extracted from the car. Esteban Ocon made his first Q3 appearance of the year in ninth, and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10, the Japanese driver lapping 0.739s slower than his polesitting teammate.
Isack Hadjar missed out on Q3 by just 0.02s to qualify 11th ahead of Lewis Hamilton, for whom a scrappy lap — comprising oversteer through Turn 1 and a lockup at the end of the straight — eliminated him in 12th in his first failure to make Q3 this season.
Gabriel Bortoleto qualified 13th ahead of Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson, who was dealing with a battery issue throughout the segment. Nico Hulkenberg qualified 16th ahead of Fernando Alonso, whose car had to be rebuilt with haste following his late sprint crash with Liam Lawson.
The team revealed that the Spaniard’s car required a new gearbox, right-front corner, floor, rear wing and front wing after the Kiwi tipped him into the a spin that ended with him in the wall at Turn 12.
Pierre Gasly was knocked out in 18th ahead of Lance Stroll, who completed Aston Martin’s first double Q1 exit of the season, and Oliver Bearman, who qualified 20th for the second day in a row.
Kimi Antonelli says the Turn 1 incident that saw him lose the lead in the Miami Grand Prix Sprint was “over the limit” from Oscar Piastri, but did not blame Max Verstappen for a later collision between the pair. Piastri got a better launch than …
Kimi Antonelli says the Turn 1 incident that saw him lose the lead in the Miami Grand Prix Sprint was “over the limit” from Oscar Piastri, but did not blame Max Verstappen for a later collision between the pair.
Piastri got a better launch than polesitter Antonelli in wet conditions, and was able to get down the inside into the first corner. Antonelli tried to hang on around the outside but was run wide and lost three spots, before later being hit by Verstappen in the pit lane and being prevented from stopping for slick tires in an incident that ruined his race.
“Yes, it was very disappointing,” Antonelli said. “I think lap one, Turn 1, was a bit over the limit … but it’s good to know for the future, honestly.
“And then about the pit lane — it was very important. Nothing to blame on Max, because he just got released, so he respected the order. What I did was, as soon as I saw him coming out, I just tried to avoid the crash, because definitely it could have been a really bad accident for the mechanics. Happy nothing went wrong there. Now we focus on to qualifying.”
Toto Wolff backed up his driver, as he believes the current driving guidelines allow the car on the outside to be run out of road too easily.
“[We’re not] setting good precedents,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “You are just releasing the brake and then you are just pushing the other guy off. It’s for the junior formulas also. I think you need to leave a car’s space.
“It’s kind of crept in. Turn 1, you push them out. It’s Kimi’s sixth race and he’s learnt a lesson that this is what you need to do. I don’t entirely agree with that, but that’s how we’ve allowed it for a few years now.”
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Of the collision with Verstappen in the pits, Wolff said: “If it was the main race that would have been seriously annoying. I’m surprised [about] the total lack of judgment there. It wasn’t even close with releasing without any security concerns. Somebody panicked there.”
Verstappen was given a 10s time penalty due to the unsafe release from Red Bull, demoting him from fourth on the road to finish outside the points and lose ground to both McLaren drivers.
“The race itself was pretty boring,” Verstappen said. “There was not much going on for me, just doing my own thing, seeing the McLaren disappear, and just keeping the gap to the cars behind.
“I think the call to pit was pretty good, of course. We could have maybe risked it a bit more, but in my position at that time and in P3 you don’t really need to do that in a Sprint.
“In the pits it was super clear, I don’t even need to really explain it. It’s super clear. It’s not what you want to see.”
