Verdict from Miami paddock insider as one F1 team badly struggles

Fine margins once again decided another exciting and unpredictable F1 qualifying session at the Miami Grand Prix.

Here are our biggest winners and losers from qualifying in Miami…

Winner - Max Verstappen

Lando Norris summed it up best by saying Max Verstappen “did a Max lap” with another blistering effort to secure his third pole position of the 2025 season.

Verstappen beat the McLaren driver, who won the sprint race earlier on Saturday, to pole by just 0.065 seconds in his Red Bull, which has an upgraded floor design this weekend.

It was the perfect response to suggestions that becoming a father for the first time might slow the Dutchman down, but he once again produced an outstanding performance.

Loser - Lewis Hamilton

After enjoying a strong run to third in the sprint, Lewis Hamilton endured his latest qualifying disappointment for Ferrari as he failed to make it into the top-10.

Although Hamilton was much closer to Charles Leclerc than recent weeks, being just 0.058s adrift, that still put him four places behind his Ferrari teammate and resulted in him exiting qualifying at the second stage with a time only good enough for P12.

It was a tough day at the office for both the seven-time world champion and Ferrari, who continued to underperform with Leclerc well off the pace in eighth.

Winner - Williams

Williams enjoyed a brilliant qualifying as the British squad took an impressive sixth and seventh on the grid with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon respectively.

The Williams duo out-qualified both Ferraris and have put themselves in an excellent position to score a double points finish and boost their hold on P5 in the constructors’ championship position.

Loser - Oscar Piastri

Oscar Piastri will be the most disappointed of the frontrunners at the end of Saturday.

Unfortunate to have missed out on the sprint win (and to have lost a point to teammate Norris), the championship leader suffered his worst qualifying result of 2025 with P4. That says something about how remarkably consistent Piastri has been over one lap this season, but he will have been frustrated to have been pipped by the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli in Q3.

Piastri was left to rue “poor execution” and felt he should have been in the fight for pole with Verstappen.

Winner - Kimi Antonelli

Fresh from securing a record-breaking pole in sprint qualifying, Antonelli’s impressive weekend continued in Miami as he grabbed third on the grid.

The Italian teenager finished just 0.002s shy of Norris in second and was only 0.067s away from Verstappen as he split the McLaren drivers and outperformed Mercedes teammate George Russell for the first time in regular grand prix qualifying.

Loser - Aston Martin

Aston Martin suffered a disappointing double Q1 elimination with Fernando Alonso only 17th and Lance Stroll two tenths further back in 19th.

The team’s competitive issues continued as both Alonso and Stroll struggled for pace over one lap and could not progress beyond the first part of qualifying. Given Aston Martin’s lowly starting positions, points look incredibly hard to achieve.

Team principal Andy Cowell said: "An eventful day in Miami with a wet Sprint and a dry Qualifying session keeping us busy and the fans entertained.

"Lance scored four points in the Sprint with an excellent race and well-judged strategy. Fernando's Sprint was looking good, too, as he ran in the points until Liam [Lawson] pushed him into wall in the closing laps. Getting Fernando's car fixed and out in time for Qualifying required a massive team effort – drawing on the component preparation work done back at base – and both sides of the garage helping with repairs. 

"The Qualifying results are reflective of our pace combined with such a tight grid. Let's see what we can do to progress up the field, especially if the rain showers return. We will be ready to maximise any opportunities in the race."

Stroll admitted: "We know we don't have the pace currently and finished Qualifying as we expected. We made some positive set-up changes following the Sprint and the car felt the best it has been all weekend, but we know we are just not quick enough. 

"So it felt really good to get a decent result in the Sprint earlier today. It's the little wins at the moment, and it felt like everything fell into place, with lots of opportunities and some good decisions. But we're not where we want to be right now and need to find more pace."

Alonso said: "We just didn't have the pace to proceed to Q2, so it will be a challenge to score points. We need to better understand the issues and find some pace."

Winner - Esteban Ocon

While his teammate struggled, Esteban Ocon enjoyed a much more fruitful afternoon on his way to securing his first top 10 qualifying effort for Haas. An excellent lap in Q3 saw Ocon take ninth and pip the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda in the process.

Loser - Liam Lawson

One of the biggest losers on Saturday was Liam Lawson.

After the disappointment of being stripped of his first F1 points of 2025 for his part in Alonso’s race-ending crash in the sprint, the Kiwi was eliminated with the slowest time in Q2 and will line up only 15th after being plagued with battery issues in his Racing Bulls car.

Winner - Jack Doohan

A much-needed result for Jack Doohan, who out-qualified Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly for the first time and reached Q2 on a weekend his future has once again been a talking point in the F1 paddock.

If the Australian can translate his qualifying display into a solid performance on Sunday, it will help alleviate the pressure on him.

Loser - Ollie Bearman

Fresh from losing the point he thought he had scored in the sprint following a post-race penalty, Ollie Bearman ended up slowest in qualifying for the third time in six races this season.

The young Briton will need to rely on his recent race day heroics to have any chance of coming away from Miami with points.