Official F1 Journal Sprint Saturday Formula 1 Round Up- Miami

Sprint Race 

Before the cars even lined up on the grid Alex Albon replaced parts so was starting from the pitlane and after an unsafe release Ocon was handed a 10 second penalty before the race had even started.
Verstappen and Leclerc got away well pushing each other hard into Turn 1 with both side by side, Perez went wide into the first turn allowing Ricciardo through to third. Lance Stroll made contact with his team mate Alonso pushing him into Norris hard and taking him out of the Grand Prix all while Hamilton went steaming up the inside only compounding the Aston Martin incident. Stroll was also forced to retire the car after the crash, Norris was an innocent victim of a first corner incident which was escalated from yellow flags to a full safety car.

Racing resumed on lap 3 everyone got through clean to restart the race, Magnussen who made a lot of places off the start now had Lewis Hamilton on his rear end.
Lap 5 Piastri was trying to hunt down Sainz ahead in 5th as Perez went up the inside of Turn 16 and past Ricciardo into 3rd with Sainz right on the back of the RB. Daniel did a mega job of defending from Sainz while he still had the DRS from Perez in front, all allowing Piastri to creep closer to the Ferrari. 
Lap 6 Verstappen had over a seconds lead over Leclerc as his team mate tried everything to pass Ricciardo's RB. Logan Sargeant was up to 12th followed by Zhou & Russell in 13th & 14th and Alonso who pit to check the car for damage after the Turn 1 incident was running dead last. 

Lap 8 Hamilton was still on the back of Magnussen struggling to keep pace on the straights with the HAAS.
Pierre Gasly was running well in 11th behind Tsunoda who was over a second behind Hamilton's Mercedes. Magnussen began to struggle on his tyres as he skipped the run off at Turn 6 helping him keep Hamilton at bay maybe not within the rules though. 
​Lap 10 Ricciardo had lost the DRS from Perez and Sainz was straight on the offensive but could't get it done on the 1st time of trying.
Lap 11 Hamilton again tried to pass Magnussen but had to bail on the move when Magnussen hit the Mercedes and forced his way back ahead as we heard he had a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Just a lap later Sainz was again, trying to pass Ricciardo but there was just no way past for the Ferrari with Piastri close behind. 
Hamilton & Magnussen continued their fight allowing Tsunoda and Gasly to catch the squabbling pair as again we heard Magnussen was under investigation by the Stewards and shortly after a Black and White Flag for track limits. ​

Lap 14 Hamilton was sooooo close to passing the HAAS but went deep at the end of the straight and allowed Tsunoda past both car and up to 8th, in to the points. Hamilton now passed Magnussen but found himself chasing Tsunoda, fighting for the final point as Albon started to put the moves on Russell for 12th. Magnussen was handed another 10 second Penalty
Lap 17 Ricciardo was still holding onto 4th place keeping Sainz behind, no matter what the Ferrari tried there was just no way past the RB.
Last lap Sainz was desperate to pass Ricciardo, Hamilton was doing everything to pass Tsunoda for the last point of the day for 8th place, Gasly was now the man trying to pass Magnussen despite knowing the HAAS had a 20 second penalty. Hamilton did get past Tsunoda to take the last point of the day as Ricciardo crossed the line to stay ahead of the Ferrari and get the best result of his year so far(4th)
After the race had finished Hamilton was handed a drive thru (20 second) penalty added to his race time meaning he was out of the points leaving Mercedes completely pointless for the Sprint race. ​

Sprint Race Result 

1 VER
2 LEC +3.371
3 PER +5.095
4 RIC +14.971
5 SAI +15.222
6 PIA+15.750
7 HUL +22.054
8 TSU +29.816
9 GAS +31.880
10 SAR +34.355
11 ZHO +35.078
12 RUS +35.775
13 ALB +36.086
14 BOT +36.892
15 OCO +37.740
16 HAM +49.347(20s added)
​17 ALO +59.409
18 MAG +66.303(20s added)
19 STR DNF
20 NOR DNF
​

Grand Prix Qualifying

Q1 

There was queue of car waiting for the lights to go green for the 1st part of Qualifying all of them running a used set of Softs, Magnussen who is currently waiting to hear about a possible penalty for unsportsmanlike  behaviour was the 1st man to set  lap, the 2 Ferrari's set the pace first with Sainz besting team mate Leclerc early in the session. 
12 minutes on the clock Verstappen joined the track waiting to start his first lap till the car who went out early had returned to the pits, going top of the times ahead of the 2 Ferrari's & his tam mate Perez in 4th.
With 8 minutes left to go Logan Sargeant was the only man to not have set a time, until he went 11th fastest on a new set of Soft tyres as his team mate Albon was trying to escape the drop Zone down in 18th. 

Hamilton seemed happier in his car that yesterday's Sprint Qualifying going 3rd ahead of Leclerc when he put new soft tyres on his Mercedes as Sainz went fastest of all. Norris who was gutted not to take Sprint Pole after a mega performance in SQ1 & 2, was hoping he could make it happen today for the Grand Prix. 4 minutes to go and we saw all the dive into the pits to make the changes they want before they make their final runs to get through to Q2.

2 minutes to go the drop zone was Sargeant 16th,Gasly 17th, Magnussen 18th, Zhou 19th & Albon 20th. Such was the track eveolution that all the cars chose to run again, nobody feeling safe  enough not to. 
Albon was improving Sargeant got out of the drop zone before his team mate dropped him back in, , Perez went 2nd fastest, Gasly jumped from the drop zone to 5th, Albon also made it out of the drop zone but after a great race today Ricciardo couldnt put a lap together and he was out in Q1

Q1 Result 

1 VER                   2 PER +0.0.083
3 NOR+0.224       4 SAI +0.248
5 GAS +0.287       6 PIA  +0.343
7 LEC +0.392        8 RUS +0.470
9 HAM +0.478      10 STR +0.488
11 OCO +0.520    12 TSU +0.635
13 ALB +0.654      14 HUL +0.694
15 ALO +0.764      16 BOT +0.774
17 SAR +0.798      18 RIC +0.928
19 MAG +0.930     ​20 ZHO +1.320

Q2

All 15 drivers were straight out with both Redbulls running used tyres to start the 2nd part of Qualifying. Verstappen went top on his first lap 3 tenths down on his fastest time of the weekend til he was beaten by the 2 Mclaren's of Piastri & Norris who took 1st & 2nd from the reigning world Champion till Leclerc went faster still.
Woth 7 minutes to go both Alpines were safe with both Aston Martins at risk in the bottom 5 as yellow flags were being waved for Alex Albon who stopped on the exit of turn 17 as he ran out of road and had to find reverse but got going again quickly after. 
​

5 minutes on the clock and the grid returned to the pits to prepare and chamge tyres for their final runs of Q2, the drop zone was Ocon 15th, Hamilton 16th, Stroll 13th, Alonso 14th & Albon 15th. Hulkenberg was having another great Qualifying up in 6th as Norris was the only man to run the yellow walled Medium tyres he was so happy on yesterday in Sprint Qualifying. Gasly was the driver at risk in 14th.
1 minute on the clock and final run began Alonso & Stroll both needed good laps to get out of the danger zone, Alonso couldn't do better than 13th, Stroll jumped to 9th with cars behind him improving, Hamilton put in a mighty lap to go 2nd fastest, Strolll was pushed out by Hulkenberg  as both Aston went out in Q2 along side Alpines and Alex Albon who beat Alonso's time on his final run

Q2 Result 

1 LEC 1'27.533
2 VER +0.033
3 HAM +0.164
4 PIA +0.188 
5 PER +0.306
6 NOR +0.388
7 SAI +0.408 
8 RUS +0.562
9 TSU +0.634
10 HUL +0.667
11 STR +0.689
12 GAS +0.791
13 OCO +0.838
14 ALB +0.880
​15 ALO +0.928

Q3 Top 10 Shoot Out 

All the cars were straight out for the final round of Qualifying, Hamilton was the 1st man on a lap and looked rapid as he circulated the tricky street circuit, folloed by his team mate George Russell as Leclerc & Vertsappen behind were swapping Purple sectors. Perez wnt faster than both Mercedes as Verstappen crossed the line to go half a second faster than Perez in 2nd till the 2 Ferrari's of Leclerc and Sainz went 2nd & 3rd fastest. Piastri was 4th fastest Perez 5th and Norris 6th followed by Russell, Hamilton, Hulkenberg & Tsunoda. Norris tried t make the Medium tyres work but switched to the Soft to make his final run. 

3 minutes to go and cars returned to the track after pitting to prepare for the final top 10 shoot out. A big surprise was when both Mercedes came out on the Medium tyre for their final runs, a tyre that wasn't their friend in SQ2 yesterday. 
Vertsappen was fastest in sector 1, Charles Leclerc was down on Vertsappen in the same sector, Sainz also wasn't improving on his lap, Perez & Piastri tayed 4th & 5th, Sainz could ony manage 3rd fastest, Russell crossed the line to go 7th, Hamilton 8th & Norris stole 5th away from team mate Piastri but it was Max Verstappen again fastest in Miami and on hi 7th consequtive Pole position. 

Q3 Result

1  VER 1'27.241
2 LEC +0.141
3 SAI +0.214
4 PER +0.219
5 NOR +0.353
6 PIA +0.434
7 RUS +0.826
8 HAM +0.866
9 HUL +0.905
​10 TSU +0.951

Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @f1journal.co.uk