Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton qualified P6 during the 2026 Miami GP qualifying, with teammate Charles Leclerc making it into the Top 3. After the session, the Briton took to the team radio and apologized for the gap to his teammate.
Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes found pace going into the qualifying as cars were taken out of Parc Ferme after the Sprint race. It looked like a multi-team, multiple driver battle for the pole position, with Kimi Antonelli eventually securing it with his banker Q3 lap.
Charles Leclerc qualified and finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton during the Sprint, and the situation remained similar in the qualifying for the main race. The seven-time F1 champion just didn’t seem as comfortable in the SF26 and the Monegasque.
In Q3, Charles Leclerc was provisionally P2 before Max Verstappen displaced him to P3 after an improvement on the final lap. Leclerc didn’t improve on his final Q3 run, but Hamilton marginally improved his lap time, but not his position, qualifying P6.
After the session ended, Lewis Hamilton took to the team radio and apologized for the gap to his teammate. The conversation with his race engineer, Carlo Santi, was
Santi: “At the moment you are P6. Antonelli P1. Verstappen P2, Charles P3. Norris 4, Russell 5.”
Lewis Hamilton: “How much was I off??”
Santi: “One tenth and a half from Charles.”
Lewis Hamilton: “Sorry guys….”
Leclerc’s best Q3 lap time was 1:28.143, whereas Hamilton’s best lap was a 1:28.319, over one and a half tenths slower than the Monegasque. The Ferraris have been mega off the line in the new era, but the short run down to Turn 1 minimises the advantage of a great start.
Lewis Hamilton is optimistic despite a subpar qualifying session at the Miami GP
Every team except for Aston Martin brought upgrades to the Miami GP. However, Ferrari brought the most upgrades, with a total of 11 upgrades, including the floor, front wing, rear wing, and suspension. Lewis Hamilton spoke about the qualifying performance at Miami.
While the Briton suggested that the team needs to extract more from the upgrades, he remained optimistic as he said,
“I don’t know if it’s [about] leading with more confidence. I think the team did a great job to bring upgrades, they worked so hard so I’m incredibly grateful for that. The other teams are doing different things with their cars in terms of development so we need to look into that, but I know that we’re pushing hard, I know there’s more to come.”
“As I said I think there’s more to extract from what we currently have. Losing a bit on the straights but I think we improved a lot in this session. I feel like we took a step forward, it doesn’t show in my result but I’m optimistic for tomorrow,” added Lewis
Hamilton currently sits P4 in the standings behind the two Mercedes and his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Edited by Pranay Bhagi
