Max Verstappen has declared that he no longer feels like a "passenger" in his Red Bull after returning to the front row of the grid at the Miami Grand Prix. The four-time world champion has endured a challenging start to the season, with deep dissatisfaction over the sport's new regulations leaving him ninth in the standings. However, significant upgrades from Red Bull have dramatically reduced the gap to the dominant Mercedes team, and Verstappen demonstrated his prowess by securing a spot on the front row behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Qualifying Performance
The Italian claimed his third consecutive pole position, bouncing back from a difficult sprint race where he finished fourth before being demoted to sixth due to repeated track limits infringements. Verstappen was thrilled to be merely 0.166 seconds behind, especially after qualifying only 11th in the previous race in Japan.
"I feel a lot more confident and I don't feel like I'm a passenger anymore in the car. To be on the front row after coming from a second behind in the last race is incredible," Verstappen said. "When I get a car more together I get more confidence and I can finally push a bit more. A lot of things have improved. So many things were not working until this weekend."
Other Drivers' Performances
Lando Norris, who secured his first victory of the season by winning Saturday's sprint, finished only fourth behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. George Russell, who had cut Antonelli's lead in the standings to seven points after the sprint demotion, struggled to match the Italian's pace in Miami and could only manage fifth place.
Mercedes brought smaller upgrades to Miami than their rivals, making Antonelli's pole a significant boost ahead of what could be a wet race. "It was a good lap, very clean, put everything together," Antonelli said. "I probably got a bit too excited on the last lap and braked too hard but lucky it was good enough because you never know, especially with Max and Charles. Happy that we were able to keep the pole."
Weather Challenges
The FIA has issued a rain hazard declaration ahead of Sunday's race, with a forecasted chance of rain exceeding 40 percent. This will be the first time many drivers have run the new generation of cars in wet conditions, and many anticipate it will pose a significant challenge.
"It's going to be tricky because so many drivers did not use it in the wet. Hearing feedback it is not the easiest in the wet," Antonelli added. Lewis Hamilton, who starts sixth for Ferrari, has more wet-weather experience in these cars than most, having driven in pre-season testing at Barcelona and during two days at the team's Fiorano track. "It was pretty horrible in Barcelona, it was not a fun day, it was very slippery, it wasn't the most fun but the wet's not usually that fun nowadays," he said. "Back in the day when we had grippier tyres it was a bit better. Fiorano was painful because it was 300 laps over two days."
