2026 Miami GP Qualifying Preview – JP
2026 Miami GP Qualifying Preview
It was slim pickings for us again in the Sprint Race but we go again. Check out James Punt’s 2026 Miami GP Sprint Race preview below.
2026 Miami GP Qualifying
With the Sprint race part of the weekend over, the teams are now free to change the set ups on their cars, if they need to. McLaren won’t. Their upgrade package has passed every test and they have the best car this weekend. Norris was not massively faster in Sprint qualifying so he will still need to be on it, but he will be feeling very confident. Oscar Piastri was second best to Norris today, and has been for the whole weekend so far, but you can’t write him off.
Kimi Antonelli could be a threat, but perhaps his performance in the Sprint race has put a dent in his chances. He got another bad start and then ran a poor race, ending up with a 5 second penalty for repeated track limit violations. He wasn’t a very happy bunny after the race. George Russell was quite honest by saying that this is just not a track that he enjoys and it is limiting his chances.
Ferrari
Ferrari are a bit harder to figure, but the bottom line is that they struggled on the soft tyre in Sprint qualifying. They will change their set ups, but will that make the difference? Hamilton is saying that he will need to make a lot of changes and he really hasn’t looked good at any time this weekend. You can’t dismiss Charles Leclerc in qualifying, but he may be looking at another second row start.
Max Verstappen is a bit happier with his Red Bull, but it clearly isn’t at the level of McLaren. We backed him in a group bet for the Sprint race and he ended up losing out by 0.6 seconds to George Russell. Max got a not so good start, again, and then got involved with a squabble with Lewis Hamilton which cost him a lot of time. He looks about fourth fastest to me. Hadjar is finding out what it is really like to Verstappen’s teammate.
Nobody else is in the hunt for pole position.
Norris Fav
Norris is the 2.62 favourite for pole, Antonelli 4.50 second favourite, with Piastri 6.00, and Leclerc 7.00. I would have to go for the McLaren’s and Norris is oozing confidence after his win today. Is he any great value at 2.62? Not for me.
All in all, value is very thin on the ground. I have found absolutely nothing worth backing for this session and it is a no bet for me.
Tomorrow is another day, and potentially a very wet day. The race start time may be brought forward, so stay tuned as the race day update may have to be a bit earlier than usual.
