The Ferrari driver beat Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez and set the fastest time this Saturday during qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix in Miami.
Never two without three: the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, current leader of the world championship offered himself Saturday at the wheel of his Ferrari the pole position of the Grand Prix of Miami, the third in five races, in front of his teammate, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz . If the Scuderia has managed to place its two drivers at the forefront, the prancing horse team will have to be wary of the second row, occupied by the Red Bulls of the Dutchman Max Verstappen, third ahead of the Mexican Sergio Pérez.
The start will be given at 3:30 p.m. Sunday (9:30 p.m. French time) in front of an expected audience of stars on the Miami International Autodrome, again under temperatures exceeding 30 degrees in the air and 50 degrees on the track.
Behind the leading quartet, the Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), the Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), the Briton Lando Norris (MCLaren), the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) complete the top 10 of these qualifications. Performing the day before during the first tests, George Russell and his Mercedes will only start 12th in the GP.
The reigning world champion team is still trying to fill the gaps in its single-seaters, which have been in difficulty since the start of the season. The manufacturer has made a series of changes to the wing levels of its single-seaters in Miami in order to gain in velocity but also to limit the effects of “porpoising“, which makes the single-seaters bounce on the straights after the change in the aerodynamics of F1 this season.
Ocon in the garage
Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), violently off the track during the last practice session disputed earlier in the day, did not participate in qualifying. Its chassis, which was badly damaged in the impact with the safety barriers, could not be replaced in time. Coming out unscathed from the accident, the Normandis physically well and will participate in the race“, Sunday, reassured his team. Ocon will therefore start last, behind the Williams of Canadian Nicholas Latifi, 19th.
But the pilot does not disassemble and assures the microphone of Canal +: “I think the pace of the car was very good over the weekend, we were still in the top 10, it was pretty solid that way. So we’re going to try to have a good race tomorrow, come back up and put on a good show.in front of some 82,000 expected spectators.
The GP route, 5.41 km long, is built around the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the American football team Miami Dolphins (whose CEO Tom Garfinkel is the promoter of the GP) and the Tennis Open of Miami, placed at the heart of the device. To increase the spectacle on the track, the layout includes “error generators”, which, according to the organizers, were “designed to allow cars to approach each otherand thus increase the chances of overtaking.