MIAMI—The time has finally come for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
After three practice sessions riddled with red flags, qualifying has come and gone with a few surprises. Although Mercedes dominated during the Friday practices, it slipped on Saturday with Lewis Hamilton in P6 and George Russell down in P14. Russell had set the fastest practice time in the second session on Friday and was hot on Charles Leclerc’s heels in the first session.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed that the car is still bouncing, something Russell complained about over the team radio.
Meanwhile, Leclerc snagged the pole position for Sunday with teammate Carlos Sainz close behind, sealing a Ferrari front row. The team’s battle with Red Bull will continue with Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez in P3 and P4, respectively.
Sainz’s finish was one that may make fans do a double take. During the second practice session on Friday, the Spaniard hit the unprotected concrete wall outside of Turn 14, and he also had first-lap retirements during both the Australian and Emilia Romagna Grand Prixes.
Meanwhile, Verstappen had a costly mistake that caused him to not only abort his lap in the final stages of qualifying but made him slip from second to P3.
With all of the excitement building up in recent months, weeks and days, here’s how you can watch the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
Date: Sunday, May 8
Time: 3:30 pm ET