Miami GP: Fourth Row on the Grid for the Team

George and Lewis start the Miami GP in seventh and eighth place respectively

After an exciting but ultimately unrewarding second sprint race of the 2024 F1 season for the team, things returned to normal on Saturday afternoon. Before the Grand Prix on Sunday, the 20 drivers went into Qualifying at the Miami International Autodrome. Unlike in Sprint Qualifying on Friday, this time round the teams had a free choice of tyres.

Lewis and George completed three runs in Q1. Each on the Soft compound, once with a used set and twice with a fresh set. In the end, both drivers made it safely into Q2. George finished P8, Lewis P9.

In the second qualifying segment, the track temperatures, which had dropped by three degrees compared to the start of qualifying, came into play. Just a few degrees can be decisive in getting the tyres into the working window - or not.

Both drivers struggled on their first run, but made it safely into Q3 on their second attempt. George finished in P8, Lewis gets a good lap and took P3. Just over a tenth off Leclerc's fastest time.

In Q3, the team tried a different tyre strategy to most of the other teams. Lewis and George set their first time on the first run on fresh Soft tyres. As the difference between the Soft and Medium tyres is small, the team prefers to use a new tyre for the last run in Q3. As a result, Lewis manages a small improvement (as one of only three drivers on the final run) and takes P8 on fresh Medium tyres. George is unable to improve and finishes the session in P7.

Formula 1 returns to the track on Sunday. The race starts at 16:00 local time (21:00 UK time). The Grand Prix will cover 57 laps of the 5.412km circuit.

Miami GP: Everything You Need to Know

George Russell

We were struggling throughout the whole of Qualifying to get the tyres into the right place. They work within a very small window, and we saw with Lewis in Q2 that, if we were able to get them in a better place, we had good speed. This is the same story for everyone though. We have to be realistic and, unless we get the perfect lap, P7 and P8 is about where our car is at currently. We know we have work to do and hopefully tomorrow will be better.

In the Sprint earlier in the day, I made a good start but got caught on the outside and lost a few positions. After that, I was stuck in a DRS train, so it was quite a processional race. Hopefully we will have a better Grand Prix on Sunday and move forwards.

Lewis Hamilton

Overall, it’s been a much more positive day than yesterday. That said, these tyres are so sensitive and trying to get them to work consistently lap-to-lap is a challenge. The track temperature and grip was similar throughout Qualifying but we still struggled to deliver the maximum potential on each lap. We had that glimpse of what was possible at the end of Q2, but we couldn’t deliver it in Q3. It’s an area we are focused on improving.

I gave it everything in the Sprint; it was a tough battle out there. Contact is never intentional at the first corner, and I went for a gap. It closed quickly though and several of us connected. After that, I was fighting hard to get past the Haas of Magnussen, and I enjoyed the racing. The penalty was unfortunate, and it was a shame that it cost us that final point.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

We have seen once again how difficult it is to get the tyres in the right window. We of course don’t blame the tyres for that, and we need to look at ourselves and our car to understand how we can get the tyres more consistently into the correct operating window. We were able to get it right at the end of Q2 and Lewis’ was P3, with just 0.15s off P1. Unfortunately, we couldn’t replicate that for Q3.

In the Sprint, cars that were quick on the straight but not necessarily through the corners were able to hold position. We had more pace but couldn’t show it. We therefore made some changes after the Sprint that will hopefully help us in the race tomorrow. We are starting slightly further forward than we were this morning so let’s see what we can do.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

The Sprint was disappointing, but we were realistic in our expectations given our grid positions. George lost out because of the first corner incident and couldn't break through the DRS train. Lewis fared better off the line but then spent most of the race battling to get past the Haas of Magnussen. We knew we were on a high wing level and that would have been OK if we'd qualified further forward. Unfortunately, when you are racing in the middle of the pack, it isn't ideal.

Going into Qualifying, we modified the set-up slightly and changed our wing level. The car was improved but it was still difficult to land the tyres in the right window. We don't seem to be the only team struggling with that but when we got it right, the pace was strong. That said, we are well aware that we have a lot of work to do in order to improve the car. If we can do so, that should help us deliver that stronger pace more consistently.

2024 Miami GP Qualifying Results

1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:27.241	-
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:27.382	0.141
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:27.455	0.214
4	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1:27.460	0.219
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:27.594	0.353
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:27.675	0.434
7	George Russell	Mercedes-AMG	1:28.067	0.826
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG	1:28.107	0.866
9	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas	1:28.146	0.905
10	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	1:28.192	0.951
11	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:28.222	0.981
12	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:28.324	1.083
13	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:28.371	1.130
14	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:28.413	1.172
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:28.427	1.186
16	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	1:28.463	1.222
17	Logan Sargeant	Williams	1:28.487	1.246
18	Daniel Ricciardo	Racing Bulls	1:28.617	1.376
19	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:28.619	1.378
20	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	1:28.824	1.583

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