Once again Verstappen did the double on Saturday, with sprint race victory followed by grand prix qualifying pole, just as he did during the Chinese GP and the first revised sprint event of the season.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has a second shot at Verstappen as he also returns to the front row alongside the Dutch driver, having qualified and finished second in the sprint.

Carlos Sainz beat Sergio Perez to third in qualifying to put two Ferraris directly behind Verstappen.

McLaren’s Lando Norris bounced back from his first corner clash that put him out of the sprint race to qualify fifth and directly ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri, with Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton next up in seventh and eighth.

Nico Hulkenberg followed up his points-scoring sprint race with ninth in qualifying for Haas, ahead of fellow midfield rival Yuki Tsunoda in 10th for RB.

But star of the sprint race, Daniel Ricciardo with fourth place for RB, will start the grand prix from last place having qualified 18th and carries a three-place grid penalty that he picked up from China.

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

When is the F1 Miami Grand Prix?

• Date: Sunday 5 May 2024

• Start time: 4pm local time/9pm BST

The sixth round of the 2024 F1 season, the Miami GP, gets underway at 4pm local time on Sunday 5 May.

How can I watch Formula 1?

In the United Kingdom Formula 1 is broadcast live on Sky Sports, with highlights shown on Channel 4 several hours after the race has finished. Live streaming through NOW is also available in the UK.

Sky Sports F1, which broadcasts the F1 races, can be added as part of the Sky Sports channels which costs £18 a month for new customers. Sky Sports can also be accessed through NOW with a one-off day payment of £11.99p or a month membership of £34.99p per month.

How can I watch the F1 Miami GP?

In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports will be live broadcasting the Miami GP.

The race will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event, with pre-race coverage starting at 7:30pm BST, ahead of the race start at 9:00pm BST.

•           Channels: Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event

•           Start time: 7:30pm BST, Sunday 5 May 2024

When can I watch the F1 Miami GP highlights?

In the United Kingdom, Channel 4 is broadcasting highlights of the Miami GP at 1:30am BST on Monday. A re-run will be shown on Monday at 9:40am BST. The full programme will run for one and a half hours, covering the pre-race, the race highlights and the initial post-race reaction to wrap up the major talking points of the race weekend.

For the entire 2024 F1 season, Channel 4 will broadcast highlights of every qualifying and race of each event. The highlights will also be available on Channel 4’s on demand catch-up services.

• Channel: Channel 4 
• Start time: 1:30am BST and 9:40am BST, Monday 6 May 2024

Will the F1 Miami GP be on the radio? 

Live radio coverage of every practice, qualifying and race for the 2024 F1 season will be available on the BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Live Sports Extra stations, the BBC Sounds app and the via the BBC Sport website.

Live coverage of the Miami GP will start at 9:00pm BST on BBC Radio 5 Live and on the BBC Sounds app.

Weather forecast for the F1 Miami GP

Current weather forecasts predict partly sunny, dry and warm conditions in Miami, with moderate winds and a very small chance of rain. The temperature is expected to be 29 degrees Celsius for the start of the race.

How many laps is the F1 Miami GP?

The race is scheduled to complete 57 laps of the Miami International Autodrome, covering a total race distance of 308.326km.

F1 Miami GP starting grid

The reigning world champion notched up his seventh consecutive F1 grand prix pole position, backing up his sprint race pole from Friday in the process, to continue his domination in Miami having converted that pole into a sprint race win earlier today.

But in a similar pattern to sprint race qualifying, the majority of drivers produced inconsistent form, with many of the top 10 shootout failing to find substantial gains on their final runs in Q3.

Verstappen’s 1m27.241s from his first Q3 run was enough for pole after he was unable to improve, while none of his rivals could usurp him, as Charles Leclerc came closest but he missed out by 0.141s.

The majority of drivers found it tough to put together the ideal lap on the soft tyres, with the hot conditions and slippery track surface leaving drivers “guessing”, according to Verstappen.

“It has been extremely difficult to put together a lap where everything just works,” he explained. “For some reason, it is extremely difficult to make the tyres work around the whole lap.

“Sometimes you have moments here and there and it is not very consistent. That makes it very difficult to try to hit the perfect lap.

“Every lap you put on the board is a bit of guessing with what is going to happen so it doesn’t make it very nice to drive.

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“I think we handled the situation well, we did the best we could and the car definitely felt a little bit nicer compared to yesterday.”

He added: “I think it is quite warm but it is very slippery around here, the tyres don’t seem to work that well and when you combine those things it makes it really tricky.”

Despite his bemusement, Verstappen was pleased with set-up changes made to his Red Bull since the sprint race, using the new parc ferme break rules between the sprint and grand prix qualifying, which gave him a better feeling in his RB20.

“It definitely felt more connected,” he confirmed. “A bit more predictable which will hopefully help me tomorrow in the race.”

Having started the sprint race with Leclerc on the front row alongside him and team-mate Sergio Perez in third, Verstappen has both Ferrari drivers directly behind him on the grand prix grid, as Carlos Sainz claimed third ahead of Perez in fourth.

But the Dutch driver isn’t concerned about the double Ferrari threat at the start and remains confident of completing a perfect weekend in Miami.

“The only thing we can control is within ourselves and that is what we will focus on,” he said.

“As long as I am happy with my balance in the race I think we will be alright. It just needs to be a bit better than we had today in the [sprint] race. If we can achieve something like that, in a happier window, then I am sure we can be quick.”

After another difficult qualifying session in the Miami Grand Prix, as Russell and team-mate Lewis Hamilton could manage no better than seventh and eighth on the grid, the team is now clear about how far off the pace it is.

While it has faith that its current W15 car has delivered some progress, Russell suggests that some of the challenges it is facing are a consequence of it having gone too far in addressing previous issues.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 about why Mercedes was stuck near the back of the chasing pack behind Red Bull, Russell said: “The fact is the stopwatch doesn’t lie.

“We know that probably some of the changes we’ve made since the end of last year perhaps overcompensated with some of the development items we did.

“We have limitations with the car now, which are a totally different limitation to what we had this time 12 months ago.

“We did so much work to solve the problems, and we’ve kind of gone too far in that direction. So, we know we need to improve, and we need to improve quickly.”

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Russell has faith that Mercedes has an understanding of what it has done wrong with its 2024 car, and it is now a case of getting new parts through the system to help turn things around.

Asked if the team knew how to improve the car, Russell said: “Yeah, we definitely know how to.

“When we look at the data, we understand why we’re in the position we are in right now. Last year, when we looked at the data, we understand why we were in that same position and I think, unfortunately, we’ve probably overcompensated to solve the problems of last year.

“We’ve gone from this extreme to that extreme now, and we need to sort of rewind and find ourself sort of in a halfway house.

“But developments and upgrades take eight weeks to run to the car. You learn this problem [at] race one or race two, and you can’t just bring those upgrades to the next race.

“You’ve got to put them in the wind tunnel. Someone has got to design it. Someone’s got to draw it. Someone’s got to build it and then you are halfway through the season.

“I think that’s why it’s so difficult when you’re on the backfoot, to just suddenly make that progress. Everybody expects it tomorrow, and we want it tomorrow, trust me, but this is the reality of F1.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W15

Photo by: Erik Junius

Tyre sensitivities

Adding to Mercedes’ problems, reckons Hamilton, is the fact that the team has failed to get on top of understanding how to get the most out of the current tyres.

He thinks this is an explanation for why he and Russell can be so quick in some sessions and then struggle the next.

“Trying to get the tyres to work and to deliver the maximum potential throughout the whole lap is something that I would say that we are struggling with,” said the seven-time world champion.

“We had that glimpse of hope in Q2 and then Q3 was nowhere.”

He added: “For us to be eight-tenths off is tough. Obviously fighting the Haas. I don’t know if that is the true speed of our car or whether it’s the tyres.

“I think there’s a lot in these tyres, and we’re just struggling. We’ve not been able to use them all year.”

For several races there has been unease at Aston Martin with how its drivers are getting the worst of some of the FIA race stewards’ decisions.

Alonso was handed a penalty in Australia for potentially dangerous driving, as the excessive manner in which he slowed down for a corner led to an accident for the chasing Mercedes of George Russell.

Alonso was penalised again in China for making sideways contact with Carlos Sainz in the sprint race, while Stroll was pinged for running into the back of Daniel Ricciardo under the safety car, decisions that team boss Mike Krack felt were “frustrating” and “unfair”.

In Miami’s sprint the Spaniard was on the receiving end of Lewis Hamilton’s aggressive move down the inside at the start of the race, which led to a four-car melee also involving his team-mate Lance Stroll and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Alonso fumed that Hamilton would escape sanction for the one-lap contact because he “isn’t Spanish”. And four hours later, after qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix, he still felt the same way over how he is treated.

“I do feel that nationality matters,” Alonso said. “And I will speak with Mohammed [Ben Sulayem, FIA president], with the FIA, whatever.

“I need to make sure that there isn’t anything wrong with my nationality or anything that can influence any decision. Not only for me, also for the future generation of Spanish drivers. They need to be protected.

“I had to open the gap, because Hamilton was coming from the inside without control of the car. If I do that, for sure I get a penalty.”

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, talks to the media

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Alonso was further frustrated by a disappointing qualifying session at the Miami International Autodrome, exiting Q2 in 15th after finding himself on the wrong end of F1’s tight midfield battle.

“A little bit disappointed with qualifying for us. P15 in Q1, P15 in Q2, so I didn’t have much pace today,” he admitted.

“We made some set-up changes since this morning – looking at the time, they probably didn’t work as expected and we are a little bit less competitive than normal.

“I was understeering a lot in the high-speed and oversteering a lot in the low-speed [corners] and I felt like no grip on the car in any of the runs.

“With two tenths you can be P8 or P15. We are on the wrong side of that group as we’ve been on the good side in the last few races.

“It’s going to be a tough race. Hopefully with Lance starting P11 we’re going to score a few points. With me P15 it is going to be very difficult.”