Red Bull’s Sergio Perez claimed a surprise pole position in a dramatic Qualifying session for 2023 Miami Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen dominated FP3 and the opening two parts of Qualifying but an error on his first Q3 flier left him ninth on the grid.
Perez consequently took advantage of his teammate’s mistake to snatch a surprise pole after failing to get close to Verstappen all weekend, instead scrapping with both Ferrari drivers which proved fortunate as Charles Leclerc’s late Q3 spin caused a red flag.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso meanwhile qualified second upon completion of a dramatic Qualifying hour, which saw several surprise eliminations.
Now, here is a full roundup of FP3 and Qualifying for 2023 Miami Grand Prix.
FP3
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was the sole driver to venture out in the opening minute on medium tyres, and proceeded to set an initial benchmark lap time of 1m 31.125 in the fourth minute.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz then Leclerc displaced Ocon three minutes later but Ocon immediately hit back, only for his teammate – Pierre Gasly to go fastest by 0.172 seconds.
Red Bull proceeded to seize control in the ninth minute as Perez went fastest with 1m 29.266, only for Verstappen to post 1m 28.963 a minute later.
Perez hit back in the 16th minute as he went 0.322s quicker only for Verstappen to go even faster with 1m 27.969, which saw the two-time champion head Sainz and Leclerc come the halfway mark of the session.
Verstappen eventually lowered his benchmark time on three further occasions to top the session with 1m 27.535, which was set in the 52nd minute whilst Leclerc, Perez, Sainz and Ocon rounded out the top five.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 27.535 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.406 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.515 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.590 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.872 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.893 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.921 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.962 |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.026 |
| 10 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.071 |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.072 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.083 |
| 13 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.183 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.188 |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.539 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.644 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.729 |
| 18 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.840 |
| 19 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.866 |
| 20 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 1.912 |
Qualifying
Q1
Williams’ Logan Sargeant was first out on track at his home race to commence Qualifying but backed out of his opening flier, whilst his teammate – Alex Albon set the benchmark lap time of 1m 30.967 which was swiftly bettered by several drivers.
Once the first set of flying laps were completed, Perez sat top with 1m 28.306 whilst the elimination zone compromised of; Tsunoda, Norris, Russell, De Vries and Hamilton.
Hamilton though had been impeded by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and forced to pit due to front wing damage but went 10th fastest in the 13th minute, once he had re-joined the action which saw several cars scrapping for a Q2 spot as the track evolution ramped up a gear.
Stewards consequently opted to investigate Magnussen post-session for impeding Hamilton at Turn 17, yet ultimately deemed it a racing incident due to neither driver being on a flying lap.
As the checkered flag fell, Mercedes stared a shock double elimination in the face but scraped through at the expense of McLaren – with Norris eliminated in 16th position whilst Piastri could only manage 19th on the grid ahead of home hero, Sargeant.
AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda qualified 17th fastest just ahead of Aston Martin’s Stroll who was a shock Q1 casualty in 18th position.
Verstappen meanwhile topped Q1 with 1m 27.363 as Red Bull and Ferrari dominated the top of the Q1 timesheets.
Q2
Verstappen and Perez were first out on track and the reigning two-time champion proceeded to lay down the early benchmark time of 1m 27.110 in the fourth minute, which was 0.218s quicker than Perez.
Once opening laps had been completed aside from Bottas who opted not to do two Q2 runs, the elimination zone in the 10th minute compromised of; Russell, Hamilton, Zhou, De Vries and Bottas, although Russell and Hamilton had done their lap times on used soft tyres.
Bottas eventually posted a lap time of 1m 27.564 which put him sixth quickest and dropped Magnussen into the drop zone, albeit behind Zhou who had improved to 11th quickest.
As the checkered flag fell, Hamilton became the biggest casualty as he only qualified 13th fastest behind Albon and Hulkenberg, having failed to improve enough on his final run on fresh soft tyres.
Zhou and De Vries meanwhile qualified 14th and 15th as Verstappen topped Q2 with 1m 26.814.
Bottas meanwhile became the first Alfa Romeo driver to reach Q3 this season with the seventh-quickest lap time.
Q3
As the pit exit went green to start Q3, nobody was in a rush to venture straight out until Verstappen opted to head out first just 22 seconds into the session.
Verstappen however was forced to abandon his first flier after getting caught out by gusty wind, which allowed Perez to put his car on provisional pole with 1m 26.814 in the fourth minute, ahead of Alonso, Sainz, Magnussen and Gasly once opening fliers were completed.
Leclerc locked up at Turn 17 under braking when on course for the front row and consequently only went seventh-quickest behind Russell but ahead of Ocon, whilst Verstappen and Bottas hadn’t registered a lap time.
The session ultimately came to a premature end with 1m 36s left on the clock after Leclerc hit a gust of wind and spun out through Turns 7 and 8, which caused a red flag and handed Perez pole position.
Alonso will start second which marks his first top-five start at an USA-based race since Indianapolis in 2007, whilst Sainz and Magnussen will share the second row ahead of Gasly, Russell, Leclerc, Ocon, Verstappen and Bottas.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 26.814 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.361 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.508 |
| 4 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.926 |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.945 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.963 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.020 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.094 |
| 9 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | No Time |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | No Time |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1m 27.795 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.108 |
| 13 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.180 |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.296 |
| 15 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 0.600 |
| 16 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 28.394 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.035 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.082 |
| 19 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.090 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.183 |