Perez clocked 1m 26.841s in his first run in Q3 to gain an early advantage on the clock boards as Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen went wide at Turn 5 and aborted his initial run – Retreat to pit lane.

Meanwhile, Leclerc hit the wall on the exit of Turn 16 and then locked out the following corner, proving only seventh after an initial run.

The duo therefore have work to do to move up their rankings and embark on a final sprint to try to overturn Perez’s bid for a second pole position in 2023.

When Leclerc started his lap in rough fashion, he went overboard on the exit of Turn 6, losing the rear to spin into the wall. This immediately brought a double wave of yellow in the opening zone, but the session was marked red with 1:36 left on the clock and did not restart.

This cemented Perez’s pole position and deprived Q1 and Q2 winner Verstappen of the chance to reclaim it – much to the Dutchman’s dismay.

Fernando Alonso won his first front-row start of the season with Perez on the strength of his performance after the opening round, lauding Aston Martin’s balance as “perfect” after the race.

The Spaniard was ahead of compatriot Carlos Sainz on Sunday’s grid and the Ferrari driver managed to secure a solid lap in the opening session. With Kevin Magnussen joining him on the second row of the grid, the Dane succeeded on his first attempt as Haas continued to impress throughout qualifying.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

Pierre Gasly was fifth, George Russell barely broke into Q3 and Leclerc was seventh before crashing.

Esteban Ocon ensured two Alpine drivers finished in the top ten, while Verstappen and Bottas failed to set rep times in the final stretch of qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton was the big Q2 knockout, finishing only 13th in the race as the Mercedes driver spent most of the second part of qualifying in the retirement zone.

Russell managed to get into the top 10 but Hamilton couldn’t get the same level of pace out of W14 and missed Q3 by two tenths – with the seven-time champion feeling it was too late for the team in their quest to qualify. The last part of the game.

Alex Albon was knocked out in qualifying by Russell, who led by just a tenth after the race to prevent Williams from moving into Q3 again.

The Intech player was 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg – who was in the top 10 for most of the race but also failed to make progress. Hamilton started Sunday’s race ahead of Zhou Guanyu, who was unable to join Alfa Romeo team-mates Valtteri Bottas and AlphaTauri’s Nick de Vries in Q3.

Track conditions in Q1 improved rapidly towards the end of the race, with a frenzied rush to the finish line as the gaps between runners in the middle were particularly tight.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

The duo of McLaren and Mercedes were stuck in the bottom five with a minute and a half remaining, with both teams looking to improve.

Both Mercedes drivers managed to score competitive lap times to make progress, but Oscar Piastri was unable to break the fastest time of 15th and washed out early in the race. took a shower.

Lando Norris meanwhile managed to move into 11th, but improvements in the car around him managed to push him back into the drop zone, ensuring he exited the first stage.

Yuki Tsunoda was 17th behind the Briton, while Lance Stroll also failed to pull his Aston Martin out of the back five and finished 18th for Sunday’s race. Piastri and Logan Sargeant complete the last row.

F1 Miami Grand Prix qualifying results