Start of Q1

Qualifying will start without Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman put his car into the wall during the third free practice. The Alpine driver will have access to a whole new chassis, but there was not enough time to participate in qualifying at the Miami circuit.

Despite the fact that Ferrari and Red Bull were still tinkering with their cars just before Q1 started, all four drivers of the two top teams quickly dive out. The first stint is for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, but when Charles Leclerc goes for it again later in the first session, Verstappen has to leave a gap of more than three tenths.

Track evolves

The track becomes a lot faster during qualifying. As a result, the final minutes are a true spectacle in which everyone manages to improve his time. Lewis Hamilton is in the danger zone for a long time, because he is unable to string together a lap, but in the end he manages to jump to a safe P13.

Drivers who do not manage to advance to Q2 are logically Ocon, but also Nicholas Latifi, Alexander Albon, Guanyu Zhou and Kevin Magnussen are too slow. Especially for Zhou, the grapes are sour. He was working on an improvement of at least two tenths, but a real congestion in the last corners of the third sector ensures that the Chinese has to get stuck.