Key events
Bearman, Stroll, Gasly, Alonso and Hulkenberg are out. That’s ascending order from No 20.
Eighth-fastest for Hamilton! Panic over.
Ouch, Ferrari’s Hamilton is now in the bottom five! And he remains so on the graphic as the clock goes red.
Verstappen still fastest in 1.26.870: Piastri, Russell, Antonelli, Sainz the top five.
Bearman, Stroll, Gasly, Alonso and Ocon are the bottom five as it stands.
Three minutes to go: Verstappen, Piastri, Antonelli, Sainz, Norris the top five.
Red Bull’s Verstappen goes fastest in a time of 1.26.870. Piastri is second, +0.136.
Five and a half minutes remain in Q1. The business end approaches.
Antonelli goes fastest: 1.27.077. He loves this town!
Alex Albon of Williams is in a bit of hot water with stewards, I think for pushing in front of someone in the pit lane when they were coming out to start qualifying.
“Qualifying is wonderful, the cars are at their most lively: the most power, the most grip,” says Martin Brundle, Sky commentator and grid-walker extraordinaire. I guess he means the driving experience rather than for fans.
Piastri, McLaren’s drivers’ world championship leader, sets the fastest lap: 1min 27.307sec. Verstappen is second-fastest, +0.266 down. “Just an exploratory lap to see what conditions are like,” declare the commentators.
Riding on-board with Pierre Gasly of Alpine. What a rush! Hulkenburg, Bortoleto and Gasly are the first drivers to trouble the scorers.
“Very seldom have we had such a mentally draining sprint race going into qualifying,” says Ted Kravitz. “Perhaps it’s too much for the drivers … With the rain and the crashes, it was very draining.”
There seems to be a traffic jam in the pit lane. The drivers are keen as mustard to get out there. Martin Brundle says the track has had “a good old scrub” after the earlier rain. More shots of the fans! They are loving life!
REMINDER: We’ll have three sessions: Q1, Q2 and Q3 – lasting 18 minutes, 15 minutes and 12 minutes respectively.
It is now sunny and dry in Miami following the earlier rain. The fans are loving it, as you might expect. The slightly delayed qualifying session it about to kick off. If that is even possible.
Giles Richards
Lewis Hamilton has led a call demanding changes that would give Formula One drivers a formal place in discussions with the sport’s governing body, the FIA, and warned that they could act collectively to facilitate such a change, potentially acting as other sports have with a strong union representation.
Was Formula One more fun in the olden days? Yeah, course it was, although not if Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill were doing the jokes.
“If Antonelli could get it on pole yesterday then Russell could absolutely do it,” emails Tim. “That said I imagine a mix of Piastri, Norris or Verstappen will be the top three, in one order or another.”
With a sellout once more expected, this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix is building on an appeal to a younger, diverse audience that is a key part of Formula One’s burgeoning success in the US. Making its mark on the calendar with a grand, spectacular party in the Florida sunshine since the inaugural race in 2022, Miami is considered something of a showcase.
Do send me an email with your thoughts.
Verstappen of Red Bull missed the apex at turn eight earlier, apparently. One to keep your eye on.
(Sky Sports F1 are just doing a bit of pre-qualifying analysis.)
There was rain a bit earlier, which doesn’t sound very Miami, but there it is. This being a street circuit there is of course a fair chance of red flags during qualifying if anyone comes a cropper on a hot lap.
Those helpful explanatory words courtesy of the official F1 website, just if anyone wanted to know how qualifying actually works. Which, I am not going to lie to you here, I did.
“Qualifying is split into three stages – Q1, Q2 and Q3 – which last 18 minutes, 15 minutes and 12 minutes respectively.
“The five slowest drivers are eliminated after Q1, before five more drop out from Q2 – thereby setting the grid positions from 20th up to 11th.
“The ten remaining drivers head into Q3 to determine the top 10 grid slots, with the fastest driver taking pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix.”
Ollie Bearman of Haas has also been penalised for an unsafe release in the sprint. He drops from P8 to P14, so Yuki Tsunoda picks up a point.
“Quali” (ugh) is coming right up at 9pm UK time. That’s 20 minutes or so if my maths is correct. What could possibly happen?
Giles Richards
Lando Norris took advantage in a dramatic sprint race in tricky, changeable conditions at the Miami Grand Prix to claim victory from his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, with Lewis Hamilton enjoying a well-timed strategy call by his Ferrari team to take third place.
The defending world champion, Max Verstappen, had a shocker, demoted from fourth to 17th after he was penalised for an unsafe release in the pit lane by his Red Bull team. It was a blow to the Dutchman’s title defence as he dropped to 21 points behind Piastri who leads the championship. Verstappen said he was relieved no one was hurt and the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, said it had been “human error”
What are your hopes, dreams, expectations and perhaps even fears for this qualifying session from Miami? Send your thoughts to me via email
Giles Richards
As inescapable as it is inexorable, everyone at Cadillac is aware the clock is ticking as they edge closer towards a moment of truth more than three years in the making. The expectation and anticipation for when the team, backed by General Motors, hits the grid as Formula One’s 11th entry for the first race of 2026 is ratcheting up with every passing second.
“Kimi Antonelli sprung the surprise of the season by taking pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix, the youngest F1 driver to do so. The Italian teenager, six rounds into his rookie campaign as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton, was born five years after the double world champion Fernando Alonso became the youngest F1 driver to take a pole position.”
Preamble
Pleasingly, there is an element of unpredictability in Formula One this season. Oscar Piastri unexpectedly leads the drivers’ championship for McLaren, having won three races out of five, while Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes snaffled pole position for the earlier sprint race in Miami.
The 18-year-old Italian said he was “over the moon” and “super, super happy” to secure that surprise pole, so that bit was predictable, at least. Here is Giles Richards’ report the race, that was won by Lando Norris:
The superior pace of the McLarens, driven by Norris and Piastri, may come to the fore again in qualifying as the grid is settled for tomorrow’s big race.
Qualifying starts at 9pm UK time
