F1 News: Max Verstappen Surprised With Miami Sprint Pole - 'What Happened to the Others?'

Max Verstappen clinched the pole position for the Miami sprint race, reacting with surprise and amusement over his unexpected triumph. Despite struggling with his car’s performance and tire issues, he outpaced his rivals in the final laps of qualification.

The three-time champion openly shared his thoughts over the team radio, initially bewildered by his pole position win. "LOL. What happened to the others? This was terrible," he remarked, reflecting a mix of joy and confusion about the outcome that saw him leading the pack. Despite his critical self-assessment, he added, "I mean I will take it!" indicating a readiness to capitalize on any advantage offered to him.

During his post qualifying interview with Naomi Schiff, Verstappen commented fully on the Sprint Qualifying session:

"It felt really terrible. Maybe that last session was just incredibly difficult to get the tyres to work.

"Already in SQ2, I didn't feel great. SQ3, it just felt quite similar to me. I didn't really improve on the soft. Somehow we were first. Of course, I happily take it.

"But it didn't feel enjoyable out there to drive for whatever reason because in practice it felt really, really nice, I was very comfortable and confident, qualifying, not so much."

Despite these challenges, Verstappen secured the top qualifying spot ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez who will start the sprint race from second and third, respectively. Verstappen continued:

"It might be the track layout a little bit. I thought after practice, I was quite confident we could fight for pole, then in qualifying it didn't really look like that for me. But somehow we ended up in first. I don't know what happened to the other cars on that last lap."