Verstappen won his second sprint of the year. He also dominated qualifying for the Grand Prix in Miami

The defending champion won by more than three seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and team-mate Sergio Pérez. The best performance of the year was performed today by fourth Daniel Ricciardo with the car RB (formerly AlphaTauri).

Also in the afternoon qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix, the Red Bull pilot was the fastest, and as the first driver since Alain Prost in 1993, he won pole position in the first six races of the season and was the fastest in qualifying for the seventh time overall.

Leclerc, who was slower by 141 thousandths of a second, will line up next to Verstappen. The second will be Carlos Sainz junior with Ferrari and Pérez.

Verstappen secured the lead in the sprint after starting from pole position. “My start didn’t go very well, but it worked out in my favor in the first corner. After the safety car, I managed to increase my lead at the front, but it was still not perfect,” the Dutchman described his impressions at the finish line.

Lando Norris in McLaren remained a victim as in the first corner after a collision between Aston Martin cars and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Because he overran the track, Norris was fined 50,000 euros (more than 1.250 million CZK) after the race.

Lance Stroll retired from the race after a collision, Fernando Alonso had to replace his front spoiler and Hamilton held on to ninth place.

A safety car came onto the track and the racing field had to pass the pits so that the organizers could clean up the debris. In the fourth lap out of 19, the sprint was restarted, but this did not change the fact that he was leading this season’s reigning Red Bull.

The order of the first three places did not change and Verstappen dominated the second sprint of the year and has not yet known the bitterness of defeat in Miami. The riders fought a big fight for eighth place. The final point awarded in the sprint went to Juki Cunoda in the RB car.

In the first part of qualifying, the home driver Logan Sargeant in Williams and surprisingly also the successful man from the sprint Ricciardo dropped out.

In the second phase of the fight for pole position, both Aston Martin cars “stayed”, on the other hand, unlike the sprint, Mercedes managed to get both drivers into the top 10.

The program in Miami continues with the Grand Prix, which will start at 22:00 CEST on Sunday. You can watch it live in our online transmission HERE.

Qualification results: