MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Sergio Perez will start from pole at the Miami Grand Prix, where he was cleared to race for both victory and the championship.
Perez leads his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen by just six points in the championship standings and team boss Christian Horner has promised Miami to allow the drivers to race for the title. Verstappen, the two-time reigning F1 champion, and Perez each have two wins this year as Red Bull swept all four races and finished 1-2 on three occasions.
The pole for Perez was the third of his career, but the other two were on the Jeddah street circuit. Perez won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and will look to do two in a row on Sunday.
“Checo! Checo! Checo!” the crowd chanted Perez as they waved Mexican flags.
He said Saturday’s qualifying effort was a massive turnaround after struggling through all three practice sessions.
“Everything became more lively and we were just playing with the tools and we got the rounds we needed,” Perez said before explaining why he was having such a difficult weekend.
“Everything. It didn’t go together. It was one of those weekends where we had trouble with balance, confidence, this bitumen is very sensitive to temperatures.
Qualifying came to a halt with 96 seconds remaining when Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari into a barrier. Leclerc also crashed on Friday.
Fernando Alonso will start on the front row for the first time in his resurgent season with the new Aston Martin team. He is aiming for his 33rd career F1 victory, which would be a first for Aston Martin.
Carlos Sainz Jr. qualified third for Ferrari and was followed by Kevin Magnussen in his highest qualifying effort of the season. Magnussen drives for Haas, the only American team in F1.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly qualified fifth and was followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and Leclerc.
Verstappen qualified ninth.
Horner this weekend hailed Perez’s start to the season.
“Checo’s has had a fantastic start to the season. He started the season stronger than he ever did,” said Horner. “And I think, as we all know, confidence is a big thing in any sport and Checo’s confidence is very high, and this championship is going to be a marathon and there will be ups and downs in along the way, I’m sure.
“But his challenge, and the challenge for both drivers, is to maintain consistency.”
He also acknowledged that Red Bull will allow Perez to challenge the double champion.
“I think the most important thing is to make sure that paranoia doesn’t set in and that both drivers are treated equally. You strive for equality, to the point of who comes out the first from the garage every weekend, you know, it alternates. He even alternates in the debriefing who speaks first,” Horner said. “I think as long as the drivers know they both have an equal chance and it ultimately comes down to what they do on the track, that’s where you want it to be, not reliability, for example, to play a key role in a championship fight between your two drivers at the within your own team.
Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of the second lap and will start 13th on Sunday.
Williams’ McLaren and Logan Sargeant drivers were eliminated in the first qualifying round. McLaren has several North American sponsors and sees racing in the United States as a home stop, while Sargeant was born and raised about 20 miles from the Fort Lauderdale track.
Sargeant is the first American on the F1 grid since Alexander Rossi in 2015 and this weekend is his first visit to the Miami circuit.
“Are we done? he asked over the radio with clear discouragement in his voice after the qualifying session.
“P20. It’s very tight,” was the response he received.
“It’s been a difficult weekend so far, I’ve struggled to feel comfortable. I feel like we’ve taken a good step forward (from third practice to qualifying) with very thin margins,” Sargeant said later. “That’s how it is. Move on.
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