Refresh

This website autoaction.com.au/2025/05/04/verstappen-masters-miami-pole-as-mclaren-fades is currently offline. Cloudflare's Always Online™ shows a snapshot of this web page from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. To check for the live version, click Refresh.

AutoAction
FREE DIGITAL MAGAZINE SIGN UP

Verstappen masters Miami Pole as McLaren fades

Pole position qualifier Max Verstappen, Oracle Red Bull Racing, celebrates in parc ferme after Qualifying at the 2025 F1 Miami Grand Prix.

By Reese Mautone

Max Verstappen delivered under pressure in the 305, locking in pole position for the Miami Grand Prix as McLaren’s early promise faded and Kimi Antonelli bounced back from a bruising Sprint to qualify in the top three.

Qualifying 1:

Brushing aside the craze that was the Miami Sprint, Qualifying to set the grid for Sunday’s main event was all that was on the drivers’ minds when the light went green to commence the hour shootout. 

With dark clouds looming in the near distance, it was an impatient start to Q1 as the field tussled for track position out of the pit exit. 

Following anger and disappointment after a failed Sprint Qualifying campaign, today’s session was an opportunity for Jack Doohan to redeem his weekend in Miami.

Reacquainting himself with dry tarmac around the Miami International Autodrome, the Australian set an opening time of 1:27.244s.

Jumping into P11, Doohan shaved four-tenths off his initial time, however, as his competitors completed their second attempts, the Alpine fell into an at-risk P14. 

With two minutes on the clock, Doohan exited the pitlane to salvage a critical last-ditch lap in Miami, setting personal best sectors on his way to P11. 

Then came the waiting game which was agonising for the #7 who had to watch his rivals cross the line after him, however, the stress soon turned to celebration when the Australian was confirmed to be a part of the second stage of qualifying in P13.

Liam Lawson entered the opening stage of qualifying under a cloud after news broke that he’d been handed a five-second penalty for his Sprint clash with Fernando Alonso, stripping him of what would have been his first points of the season.

As has been the case in many Qualifying outings for RB, Lawson and his teammate — who was involved in a pitlane incident with Alex Albon — remained without a time on the board for an extended period of time, only rectifying that as Q1 edged closer to its halfway mark.

Lawson slotted himself into sixth fastest after a solid first attempt, with his time of 1:27.444s leaving him nestled amongst the slimmest margins of the order. 

On his final run, the Kiwi failed to improve with poor first and final sectors washing away any gains he made in the middle sector, however, fortune favoured the bold Kiwi who just managed to advance to Q2 in P14.

Luck wasn’t on Oscar Piastri’s side during the earlier Sprint, so to make up for that fact, the streets of the Miami International Autodrome gave the Australian a breezy ride through to Q2.

The #81 instantly made an impression on his used set of soft compound tyres, jumping to the head of the timesheets by two-tenths with a time of 1:27.307s.

On his second attempt, Piastri found himself tracking as the second fastest driver on track, falling a tenth short of Max Verstappen’s benchmark before he launched for one final Q1 run.

The Australian advanced through to the second stage with ease, finishing Q1 as the third fastest driver behind the Red Bull driver and Lando Norris.

As for the rest of the field, the Mercedes drivers attempted to bring the fight to the Verstappen-McLaren Q1 shootout, while the Ferraris — Lewis Hamilton in particular — scrambled to put a decent lap together on their way to the Q2 showing. 

At the other end of the spectrum, it was a disappointing session for Oliver Bearman who failed to improve from the very back of the pack, condemning himself to start the Miami Grand Prix from last place.

The Haas driver was joined in the elimination zone by both Aston Martins, Pierre Gasly who lost out to extensive traffic on his final run, and Nico Hulkenberg.

The latter was out-qualified by his teammate for the first time since Formula 1 was in Melbourne, with Gabriel Bortoleto advancing to the second round in P11.

Qualifying 2:

When the second round of qualifying roared to life, getting a solid banker lap on the board was the most critical task for the remaining 15 drivers.

It wasn’t a competitive first run for Doohan who recorded a time of 1:27.313s, leaving him over a second behind his compatriot’s benchmark as he retreated to the pitlane.

Upon return, things weren’t much better for the Australian who, despite setting three personal best sectors across the lap, couldn’t break free of the bottom five. 

With a fastest time of 1:27.186s, Doohan only managed to secure a P14 start for tomorrow’s race, finding the positives in out-qualifying his teammate.

Exiting the pitlane with the bulk of the grid, it wasn’t an ideal tour of the Miami International Autodrome from Lawson who remained at the bottom of the order, 1.4 seconds behind the benchmark and four-tenths behind the lap ahead.

When he returned to the circuit, Lawson had just 5.4km to redeem himself but was unable to do so after succumbing to an issue with his battery.

“We do have a problem [with the battery], clearly, and that’s what we tried to manage the whole session,” Lawson’s race engineer said, comforting the frustrated #30.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t really get there.”

Lawson will start the 57-lap race from 15th on the grid, with the Alpine driver his first target.

Putting a significant distance of almost four-tenths between himself and Verstappen, Piastri opened the second round of qualifying with the fastest lap of the 15-minute session.

His blistering time of 1:26.269s gave McLaren enough certainty to keep the Australian in the garage to round out Q2, with Piastri safely advancing to the top ten shootout as the man to beat.

McLaren opened the session with a competitive 1-2, leading over the Sprint pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli who was showing continued confidence in his Mercedes, while his more experienced teammate struggled to come to grips with his car. 

Also struggling with their challengers were Charles Leclerc and Hamilton, with the #16 and #44 starting their final attempts closer to the knockout zone than they would have liked. 

On his final run, woes worsened for the seven-time world champion as he failed to improve across the lap, even with the aid of fresh soft compound tyres, as he locked up at Turn 17.

As a result, Hamilton will start the Miami Grand Prix from P12, joined in the elimination zone by four rookie drivers Isack Hadjar, Bortoleto, Doohan and Lawson.

Making it through to the top ten shootout, Esteban Ocon lined himself up with a rare Q3 appearance, with both Williams drivers continuing to show competitive pace against the top four teams. 

Qualifying 3:

The moment the vibrant streets of Miami had been waiting for finally arrived as the light went green in the pitlane, releasing an eager Dutchman out onto the temporary street circuit to commence what was a blinder of a banker lap.

Going purple in all three sectors, Verstappen crossed the line with a provisional pole time of 1:26.492s, leading a top three that was separated by just 17 milliseconds.

It wasn’t the usually aggressive start to the session for Piastri who was already two-tenths down on Verstappen through the first sector before flying across the kerbs at Turn 15.

He settled into P3 while Norris came within 0.003s of the Red Bull driver before returning to the pitlane. 

The remaining four Mercedes-powered cars trailed at a significant distance, making the fight for pole seemingly a three-way fight in the 305.

The first to launch was Verstappen, however, a decent wobble through the first corner made his task to hold onto Pole all the more difficult.

Despite the messy Sector 1, Verstappen set the fastest overall sector before recording two personal best sectors to round out the lap with a hot time of 1:26.204s.

Behind, the McLaren duo’s pace dropped off through the first sector, with improvements never quite arriving as they made it to the line.

Lando Norris held onto his place alongside the Red Bull driver on the front row despite taking too much kerb at Turn 17, apologising to his team for being self-critically “terrible” at the end of qualifying.

As for his teammate, after the slow start, Piastri set a personal best middle sector and even recorded the fastest overall final sector as he crossed the line, however, it wasn’t enough to compete for Pole, or hold onto a place in the top three when young gun Kimi Antonelli demoted the Australian by a tenth.

Slotting in one-hundredth behind Piastri, George Russell was again at a deficit to his rookie teammate as he secured himself his second P5 start of the weekend.

As for the Williams duo, Carlos Sainz out-qualified Alex Albon, redeeming himself after disappointing Sprint Qualifying and Sprint Race showings.

The pair will take the start from P6 and P7, tracking faster than a sombre Charles Leclerc who was left defenceless in his SF25, only setting a time quick enough for eighth place. 

Rounding out the top ten, Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda — whose fastest lap was seven-tenths slower than his pole-earning teammate — will share Row 5 for the Miami Grand Prix which could be threatened by more wet weather conditions come lights out.

The Miami Grand Prix will kick off at 06:00 AEST on Monday, with the nation gearing up to cheer the championship leader on. 

Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Qualifying Results:

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:26.870
2 Lando Norris McLaren + 0.085
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren + 0.136
4 George Russell Mercedes + 0.144
5 Alex Albon Williams + 0.172
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes + 0.207
7 Carlos Sainz Williams
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari + 0.409
9 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull + 0.428
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls + 0.431
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber + 0.473
12 Charles Leclerc Ferrari+ 0.547
13 Jack Doohan Alpine + 0.552
14 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls + 0.574
15 Esteban Ocon Haas + 0.580
16 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber + 0.603
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin + 0.734
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine + 0.840
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 0.960
20 Oliver Bearman Haas + 1.129

Buy the new issue of Auto Action Premium HERE

Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here. For more of the latest motorsport newssubscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine