Max Verstappen celebrated the birth of his first child by winning the head position of the Miami Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon.
The Formula 1 defending champion was ahead of Formula 1 ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren) by 65 thousandths of a second to take first place from Sunday’s race.
“The qualifications were excellent, everything went well and I am very happy to be in a head position,” said Verstappen about his 43rd career position.
This is his third head position in six races this season and his second consecutive.
This is not the result that Norris hoped for on the part of the new father. There is a myth that having children can slow down pilots because they suddenly become a little more conservative.
Verstappen and his partner, Kelly Piquet, announced the birth of a girl on Friday.
“A wink to Max, especially since he’s dad now,” said Norris. “I was hoping that it was going to slow it down a little, but this is clearly not the case. »»
Verstappen agreed.
“It is obvious that it did not make me slower, being a father. We can throw this through the window for the people who mention it, ”he said.
And although he did not reveal when Lily was born, he indicated that the reason he did not participate in Thursday’s activities in Miami was “spending a few days at home to make sure that everything is fine.” »»
Verstappen also said that the myth according to which being parent can change the style of a driver is ridiculous.
“I don’t really listen to this kind of stupid things, you know,” said Verstappen.
“I just do what I have to do. There are enough race pilots in the past who have become world champions after having children. I don’t even know where this (myth) comes from. »»
Norris is the defending winner of the race, his triumph in Miami last year being the first of his career in F1. Norris had also ended the two -year Verstappen victories series at Hard Rock Stadium.
Kimi Antonelli qualified third for Mercedes. This is the first time that he has qualified above than his teammate George Russell, who ranked fifth behind the current leader in F1 points, Oscar Piastri, of McLaren.
-Williams placed his racing cars in sixth and seventh positions with Carlos Sainz son and Alex Albon, respectively, while Charles Leclerc took the eighth place.
Esteban Ocon qualified 9th for Haas and Yuki Tsunoda 10th to allow Red Bull to have his two cars in a position to score points.
Lewis Hamilton was eliminated from the second qualifying session. His 12th place is his worst qualification since he joined his new team.
After a sixth place in the Sprint race, the Quebecer launched Stroll, on Aston Martin, had to settle for the 19th position during the qualifications, while his teammate Fernando Alonso ranked 17th.
“We know that we don’t have the pace at the moment and we have finished the qualifications where we expected,” analyzed Stroll, in a statement published on the official website of Aston Martin.
“We made positive changes to the settings following the Sprint race and the sensation in the car was the best of all weekends. But we know that we are not fast enough. »»
Stroll recognized that his final classification in the sprint had done him good.
“These are the small victories at the moment. It looked like everything had fallen in the right place, with many opportunities and good decisions. But we are not where we want to be right now and we have to generate more pace. »»
Norris wins the sprint
Earlier during the day, Norris had won a hectic sprint race.
Norris first crossed the arrival thread of this shortened event of 18 laps ahead of Piastri and Hamilton.
Albon, Russell, Stroll, Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Oliver Bearman (Haas) followed, in order. Only the first eight pilots get ranking points in a sprint race.
Antonelli, who was rushed at the head position, was the victim of a hook with Verstappen in the well line. Antonelli resulted in 10th place, and Verstappen – who received a penalty of 10 seconds for hanging – in the 17th step.
In addition, Fernando Alonso, Stroll’s teammate at Aston Martin, was also the victim of a hanging, this time on track with Lawson, and he was forced to abandon. The race therefore concluded under the yellow flag.
The start of the Sprint race was delayed by a few minutes due to the torrential rain that fell in the sector, in the shade of the hard rock Stadium, the home of the Dolphins of Miami, in the NFL.
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