Miami GP: Disappointing Sprint Qualifying in Miami

George and Lewis start the F1 Sprint premiere in Miami from P11 and P12 respectively.

Sun, beach and Formula 1! The sixth round of the 2024 season brings F1 to the Sunshine State in the south-east of the United States of America.

This weekend, the Miami International Autodrome will host a Grand Prix for the third time and a sprint weekend for the first time. Accordingly, the first competitive session was already scheduled on Friday afternoon with Sprint Qualifying, which decided the starting positions for the F1 Sprint on Saturday morning.

SQ1 took place in warm temperatures and both drivers made it safely into the second qualifying session. George finished P6, Lewis P12.

Things didn't go so well for either driver in SQ2. Lewis clipped the wall at Turn 16 and was eliminated in P12. George also failed to make it into the final qualifying segment. He finished SQ2 in P11.

It was a hard-fought session, with just over three tenths separating Lewis in P12 from Max Verstappen in P4. Neither driver was happy with his car in Sprint Qualifying. The team is now concentrating overnight on finding out what caused this so that they can make any necessary changes in the second parc fermé after the F1 Sprint.

Busy first practice session in Miami

The first and only free practice session in Miami took place in high temperatures. The air temperature was 28°C at the start and the track temperature was 48°C and rising. The drivers had to pay attention to the correct management of their tyres so that they offered the best possible grip over an entire lap.

The drivers and the team had ambitious plans for the solitary 60 minutes of practice of the weekend and had scheduled a busy programme. But after just a few minutes, the session was interrupted by red flags! Charles Leclerc had spun and stopped in the middle of the track. However, his Ferrari was soon recovered and the drivers were able to resume FP1.

As Miami is the second sprint weekend in a row, the team had even less time to fine-tune the set-up of the W15 and prepare for the rest of the weekend. Fortunately, there were no further red flags, so the team was able to complete its planned programme.

Both drivers were able to collect valuable data on a single lap as well as on longer runs. George finished the session in P4, Lewis in P7. However, second to twelfth place were separated by just half a second.

The action continues on Saturday at 12:00 local time (17:00 UK time) with the second F1 Sprint of the 2024 season. 19 laps in total await the drivers at the Miami International Autodrome before the starting grid for Sunday's Grand Prix is determined in Qualifying in the afternoon from 16:00 local time (21:00 UK time).

Miami GP: Everything You Need to Know

George Russell

In FP1, the Soft tyre was feeling really good on our car. The pace was looking good but on the Medium compound in Sprint Qualifying, we just couldn’t get the car in the sweet spot. We found ourselves on the wrong side of the cut-off. It was very tight out there, with just a few hundredths of a second making it through to SQ3. We shouldn’t have been that close to being knocked out though and we will work hard this evening to find improvements.

I’ve got no doubt we will move forward in the Sprint tomorrow. We need to get over our qualifying woes as it is always difficult starting on the back foot.

Lewis Hamilton

The car felt really good in FP1, and I was happy with the balance. Unfortunately, in Sprint Qualifying, the balance changed, and the car regressed. We were close to making it through to SQ3, but we were a decent chunk of being at the front. Starting from P12, the Sprint will be tough for us. I am not expecting a huge amount from there as it is not an easy circuit to either follow or overtake at. We will be trying our best to get the car into the points though.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We are understandably disappointed with how today unfolded. The team worked through a full programme in FP1 and both drivers were happy with the balance of the car. We opted to make changes that were relatively minor ahead of Sprint Qualifying, aiming to retain that goodness in the afternoon session. Unfortunately, and as we have seen on numerous occasions this year, we were unable to take the step that others were capable of come the session that mattered. The spread of the field was close, but we will not look to make excuses as to why both our cars were knocked out in SQ2. We need to do a better job of keeping the car in the right window and delivering the potential that we are showing in earlier sessions.

The aim in the Sprint is to get both cars into the points. We know that will be a challenge from P11 and P12 but we will be fully focused on doing so. We will also be looking to use the Sprint to further our understanding of the car and to put it in a better place for Qualifying and the Grand Prix later in the weekend.

2024 Miami GP Sprint Qualifying Result

1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:27.641
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:27.749
3	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1:27.876
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Racing Bulls	1:28.044
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:28.103
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:28.161
7	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:28.375
8	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:28.419
9	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:28.472
10	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas	1:28.476
11	George Russell	Mercedes-AMG	1:28.343
12	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG	1:28.371
13	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:28.379
14	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:28.614
15	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	-
16	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:29.185
17	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	1:29.267
18	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	1:29.360
19	Logan Sargeant	Williams	1:29.551
20	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:29.858

2024 Miami GP FP1 Result

1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:28.595	25
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:28.700	24
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:28.711	24
4	George Russell	Mercedes-AMG	1:28.784	26
5	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:28.817	25
6	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1:28.868	23
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG	1:29.012	24
8	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	1:29.056	25
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:29.163	23
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:29.175	27
11	Daniel Ricciardo	Racing Bulls	1:29.178	27
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:29.189	26
13	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas	1:29.314	25
14	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:29.393	24
15	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	1:29.445	24
16	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:29.495	21
17	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	1:29.636	23
18	Logan Sargeant	Williams	1:29.891	23
19	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:30.023	22
20	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:32.099	3

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