Sprint Race Miami, the starting grid. There is a penalty!

Miami is ready to host the first Sprint Race since its entry into Formula 1. The result of qualifications which took place yesterday saw Max Verstappen forcefully take first place, followed by Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque managed to put together an excellent qualifying despite not running during the only free practice session of the weekend. Immediately behind them an anomalous couple, formed by Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian is looking for his first championship points of the season. And such an advanced start, albeit for Sprint, is Daniel's first big opportunity. We see the rest of the starting grid for the Miami Sprint Race, considering that, compared to the results of yesterday's qualifying there is something new.

The starting grid of the Miami Sprint Race: the penalty arrives for Bottas

The first two rows in Miami will therefore be made up of the Verstappen – Leclerc and Perez – Ricciardo pairs. The Monegasque managed to find the front row after rather disappointing qualifying sessions in previous race weekends. Thus the challenge between Max and Charles returns which characterized the entire first part of the season in 2022. A little further back, in the third row we find the Monegasque's companion, Carlos Sainz, not satisfied with the qualifications. Alongside him was Oscar Piastri, the first of the two McLarens. Lando Norris, after setting excellent times in SQ1 and SQ2, in fact lost the opportunity for Pole due to an error in the flying lap of SQ3. This mistake nullified the advantage and cost him dearly. In fact, Lando will even start on the fifth row together with Nico Hulkenberg, and behind the two Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso.

In the positions immediately outside the top 10 are the two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton. The updates do not seem to have improved the performance of the W15. Both will have to rebuild the race, but considering the few laps it is difficult to think of a placing

At the start of Sprint qualifying in Miami the cars of Oscar Piastri and Valtteri Bottas touched, after an unexpected crash by the Finn. This defense was seen by the stewards who decided to penalize Bottas with 3 positions on the Sprint starting grid. Bottas had failed to make the SQ1 cut, qualifying in eighteenth position. The penalty therefore causes him to be relegated to twentieth position.

The starting grid of the Miami Sprint Race, which will start at 18:00 pm