2024 F1 Round 6 Miami Grand Prix qualifying: Verstappen takes sixth straight pole of the season in 1:27.241, blue-liveried Ferraris second and third, Tsunoda tenth

Qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, Round 6 of the 2024 Formula 1 season, took place at the Miami International Autodrome in the early hours of 5 May, Beijing time. Max Verstappen took his sixth consecutive pole since the start of the season with a 1:27.241, the 38th pole of his career. The two Ferraris, wearing a special blue livery, followed him, with Charles Leclerc 0.141s behind in second and Carlos Sainz third.

To mark the 70th anniversary of Ferrari’s arrival in the North American market, the team brought a special SF-24 incorporating blue into its colour scheme for the first time in 60 years. The “blue Prancing Horses” ultimately took second and third on the grid. Although Verstappen did not improve on his first flying lap, his 1:27.241 was enough to keep both Ferraris behind: Leclerc was 0.141s adrift and Sainz 0.214s.

Sergio Pérez was fourth, just 0.005s slower than Sainz. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were fifth and sixth. Norris used medium tyres late in Q2 and on his first flying lap in Q3, switching to softs for his final Q3 flying lap to secure fifth with a 1:27.594. Having run out of new soft tyres, both Mercedes drivers had to make their final attempts on mediums. George Russell beat Lewis Hamilton by 0.040s as they finished seventh and eighth.

Yuki Tsunoda reached Q3 for the fourth time this season, having previously done so in Saudi Arabia, Australia and Japan. His 1:28.192 was 0.046s slower than ninth-placed Nico Hülkenberg, leaving him tenth on the grid.

The first qualifying segment produced a major upset. Daniel Ricciardo, who had finished fourth in the Sprint just a few hours earlier, struggled for rear traction and managed only a 1:28.617, 0.293s slower than team mate Tsunoda, to be eliminated in 18th. Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu also went out in Q1. Racing at home, Sargeant was knocked out in 17th, with just 0.163s separating him from Tsunoda in 12th. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, running a weight-saving upgrade package, briefly rose to fifth in Q1 to provide the midfield’s biggest highlight.

The track evolved quickly late in Q1, with heavy congestion around the pit exit and the final corner. In Q2, Hamilton initially struggled near the elimination zone before jumping to third on his final lap to make it through. Fernando Alonso was less fortunate, going out in 15th in Q2. Lance Stroll finished 11th, getting the better of his team mate in an unusual reversal and missing Tsunoda’s time by just 0.055s.

The air temperature in Miami was 29°C and the track temperature 49°C. Several drivers continued to struggle with overheating rear tyres, with qualifying conditions much the same as in the first two sessions of the Sprint weekend.