“It’s been my worst weekend…” - Perez hails turnaround after surprise pole

Q3 was cut short after Charles Leclerc crashed with 90 seconds on the clock resulting in a red flag.

The red flag meant Max Verstappen - who abandoned his first effort due to a mistake - wasn’t able to set a time, leaving him ninth on the grid.

Perez will start the race from pole position ahead of Fernando Alonso, with the Mexican looking to leave Miami leading the championship standings for the first time in his F1 career.

• Perez grabs Miami pole with Verstappen only ninth after Leclerc crash

Reflecting on his qualifying in Miami, Perez said: “I think it’s been my worst weekend up until qualifying really,” Perez said. 

“I just couldn’t figure out how to put [in] those tenths that I was missing all the time to Max and to the Ferraris.

“I was just resetting everything. We made a small change going into qualifying and really everything became more alive.”

Perez has already won at two street venues this year - Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan - and he could make it a third on Sunday.

• Verstappen ‘upset with himself’ after Q3 error in Miami

“I’m enjoying [it],” he added. “I’m just thinking race by race. I will go out and cheer for my team because they’ve done a tremendous job and we will see what happens tomorrow.

“Tomorrow, it’s a new opportunity. Starting from pole, we are the ones that have something to lose but we will just go out there and try to enjoy this amazing crowd.”