Miami is NOT disappointing fans this year, as we just finished a VERY exciting Qualifying Saturday.

Here’s what you need to know…

🏁 Qualifying Race Results 🏁

Ferrari’s Leclerc causes a RED flag 🚩 in the dying minutes of Q3 cutting everyone’s qualifying session short. This left us with a WILD grid setup for the Miami GP.

The Inside Line 🏎️💨

Saturday Qualifying Highlights

The Good

The good is the fact that we are actually going to get an interesting Grand Prix on Sunday. This grid set up is a thing of beauty. The world begged for something different to another Redbull 1-2 and the F1 gods delivered.

Obviously Leclerc crashing out meant that the likes of Verstappen couldn’t set a time in the end but credit where credit is due to the drivers that made it into Q3 to even give themselves the opportunity to benefit from the misfortune of others.

Magnussen and Haas will be SHOOK with P4 after their weekend got off to a not so good start with several spin outs in the practice sessions.

Bottas getting one over on his former teammate Hamilton in the Alfa Romero is quite something and both Alpine’s going all the way to finish P5 and P8 is a massive dub as they continue their fight to be the best of the rest in the midfield.

Sunday’s race is tea’d up to be an absolute screamer. 🍿🍿🍿

The Bad

Verstappen has a shaky open lap to start Q3 that he couldn’t recover from due to the Leclerc red flag. Even yet, he had a lot to say about the race on Sunday…

When asked if it was difficult to think of a comeback, he showed us that CLASSIC Max Attitude:

@gridtalkf1

#Verstappen with some promises ahead of #miamigp 👀👀 #formula1 #f1tiktok #f1 #formulaone #formula1drivers #sports #f1fans #fyp #checo #redbullracing

What about the rest?

Mercedes were THIS 🤏🏽 close to having both cars drop out in Q2 with Russell just scraping in by the skin of his teeth. Hamilton’s exit in Q2 mark’s his worst ever US qualifying result and he will surely be counting down the days until the Emilia Romanga Grand Prix where Mercedes are set to bring a new car with a bunch of new upgrades. Too little too late? We look forward to finding out.

BOTH McLaren’s didn’t even make it passed Q1 and do have their own car design issues but that Mercedes engine is really going through it.

DID YOU KNOW THAT: the McLaren MCL60 uses a Mercedes engine as part of the team partnership.

FUN FACT: This is the first race weekend of the season where Yuki Tsunoda has failed to out-qualify his teammate Nyck De Vries. This now makes Fernando Alonso the only driver left on the grid who has beaten his team mate at every qualifying session.

The Ugly

Leclerc is getting a slight reputation of win or bin. He drives on the edge, or… sometimes over the edge. He's quick but it too often goes wrong for man. We’ve now seen him crash in FP3 and now in qualifying too.

YES this is not great for Ferrari, Leclerc was more than capable of getting a top 4 grid position and Sainz was flying so he could have made it into the front row if he wasn’t stopped early.

YES this is ugly for Leclerc. DNF in Bahrain. DNF in Australia. Now my money is on a DNF in Miami.

But the boys in red are still starting ahead of Verstappen sooooo could be worse I guess.

Checo Primed for the Championship Lead 👑🇲🇽

With Sergio Perez “Checo” only 6 points behind Verstappen on the Driver’s Championship leaderboard, this race day is CRUCIAL for both Red Bull drivers.

A win for Verstappen extends his lead over Checo. A win for Checo seems him jump into the numero uno spot.

Perez will start on pole position in Sunday’s race with his team mate aka arch nemesis away back in P9 so this is Perez’s to lose.

This internal battle in Formula One’s best team will only add to the excitement and drama of Miami and beyond but the immediate impact of this weekend’s result will definitely make for a spicyyyyyy race day tomorrow.

The heat is definitely rising in the Red Bull camp, can Verstappen keep his cool or will the toys be thrown out the pram if things go against his favour.

Revised Predictions 😅

We said Sainz, Perez, Verstappen in qualification. We got Perez, Alonso, Sainz.

We will take that.

NO ONE expected the results we got but that is the reason we love sport and we love the F1.

Based on what we have seen today something would have to go very wrong for Perez to lose this race. If it was anyone else sat in the Aston Martin we doubt that it has the race pace to fend off Sainz but it’s Fernando freakin Alonso. This guy is the definition of a vet and he knows how to race. We have already seen him take podium finishes this season because of his understanding, race strategy and just down right consistent driving.

It’s a toss up between the two Spaniards who takes P2.

Verstappen WILL storm through the field and take P3 with Sainz just missing out in P4.

There will be big points for Alpine tomorrow who only need 7 to move above McLaren into 5th in the Constructor’s championship.

🐦Tweet of the Day 🐦

The Details (UK) 📺

What time does the Miami Grand Prix start?

Date: Sunday 7 May 2023

Start time: 3:30pm local time – 8:30pm BST

How can I watch?

Channel: Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event

Start time: 8:00pm/8:30pm BST

Next up - ITS LIGHTS OUT IN MIAMIIIIIII!!!!