LECLERC CRASHED HIS FERRARI, CHECO ON POLE IN MIAMI

Sergio Perez will start from pole position for the Miami Grand Prix, after qualifying which brought a start grid with many surprises. This is the third pole for the Mexican in Formula 1.

Max Verstappen made a mistake in Q3 and Charles Leclerc later ended up in the barriers, something Fernando Alonso took advantage of to start from the front row. Carlos Sainz Jr. had the third fastest time, and Kevin Magnussen will be next to him on the second row.

We watched qualifications with many surprises. Fernando Alonso ended a difficult day for Aston Martin, with Lance Stroll in P18, in P2. Mercedes AMG had a poor performance, which meant that Lewis Hamilton would not be able to make it through the Q2 session.

Today, the drivers who remained calm on the slippery asphalt were the most successful, while the gusts of wind "displaced" many favorites far from their usual positions. All these surprises put Kevin Magnussen in fourth starting position, ahead of Pierre Gasly and George Russell. Leclerc, after the crash, was only seventh, Verstappen, ninth.

Qualifying may have been a key session this weekend in Miami, as overtaking was quite difficult at last year's race, and for this year the DRS zones are shorter. The track have new asphalt, so the new surface turned out to be quite slippery.

Leaving the racing line almost certainly leads to a spin dance. It was necessary to complete not only a fast round, but a surgically precise one.

Friday's two practice sessions were interrupted by red flags, the experienced Hulkenberg and Leclerc ended up in the safety barriers and Verstappen set the fastest time with a new track record, which he also improved in Saturday's practice.

The Dutchman had no competition according to what was shown, and confirmation of the great advantage was expected by winning the pole position.

The softest, red, tires overheated and granulated in hot weather, but provided a noticeable speed advantage, so they became the natural choice for teams in qualifying.

In the Q1 session, everyone competed on them, working in a series of laps, gradually bringing them into the desired working window. There was a lot of traffic on the circuit, which further complicated things. Verstappen recorded the fastest time, and Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll, Piastri and Sargeant dropped out of the fight.

In the Q2 session, all drivers again chose the red tires of Pirelli. Max set a new track record in the first fast lap, which no one could improve after the first attempts, although Sainz Jr. came very close, losing only four hundredths.

In the second fast lap, Leclerc took the lead, but Verstappen was even faster. The fastest ten drivers were just one second apart, with Albon, Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Guanyu and de Vries finishing the qualifying.

In Q3, at the first outings on the track, Sergio Perez had the fastest time, while Max Verstappen made a mistake on the fast lap, so he decided to return to his garage for a new set of red tires. Charles Leclerc made a mistake at Turn 17, perhaps hinting at how today's qualifying would end.

Monégasque was impatient and ten seconds before everyone else he decided to start the second and last attempt to attack the pole. But, in the seventh corner, he lost control of his Ferrari, after which he ended up in the safety barriers.

All the other drivers were about to or had already started their second attempt, but the red flags prevented them from doing anything more. With a minute and a half left until the end of the segment, the stewards acted logically and declared an early end to the qualification.