Max Verstappen has declared he no longer feels like a “passenger” in his Red Bull after securing a front-row grid spot for the Miami Grand Prix. The four-time world champion, who has endured a difficult start to the season and sits ninth in the standings, was thrilled to be only 0.166 seconds off pole position.
Red Bull’s significant upgrades have reduced the gap to dominant Mercedes, and Verstappen’s qualifying performance marked a major turnaround from the previous race in Japan, where he could only manage 11th. “I feel a lot more confident and I don’t feel like I’m a passenger anymore in the car,” Verstappen said.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli claimed his third consecutive pole for Mercedes, bouncing back from a challenging sprint where he finished fourth before being demoted to sixth for track limits infringements. The Italian described his qualifying lap as “very clean” and expressed happiness at keeping pole despite a late braking error.
Lando Norris, who won Saturday’s sprint, qualified fourth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while George Russell could only manage fifth. The FIA has issued a rain hazard declaration for Sunday’s race, with a forecast chance of rain over 40 per cent, which could prove challenging for drivers unfamiliar with the new-generation cars in wet conditions.
Lewis Hamilton, starting sixth for Ferrari, has more wet-weather experience in these cars than most, having tested in Barcelona and at Fiorano. He described the conditions as “pretty horrible” and “slippery”, adding that wet driving is “not that fun nowadays”.
