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Verstappen joins another illustrious list: These F1 drivers did it first
Max Verstappen continues to string together records. He himself is not particularly concerned with this, yet he joined another illustrious list after qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix.
His pole position at the Miami International Autodrome marks his sixth pole of this Formula 1 season and his seventh pole in a row. Only four other drivers managed to score seven poles in a row during their F1 careers: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.
In qualifying for the Chinese GP, Verstappen secured his fifth pole of the season, equalling Mika Hakkinen. His sixth pole of the season - a score of 100 per cent since the start of the 2024 season - puts him on a par with Prost, the only other driver who ever managed to put his car on pole position in the first six qualifying sessions of the year.
Verstappen calm after yet another milestone
Verstappen himself remains down-to-earth as always. "I always try to get the best out of it. The most important thing is to win the race. Poles are nice, of course, but you don't get points for that. I like looking at the statistics in the race more than on Saturday," he said in conversation with Viaplay.
Verstappen may be dominating in Miami so far, but he is not very happy with the feeling on the track. "Just very little grip with the tyres, kind of an on-off feeling with the tyres all the time. You go into the corner and sometimes you have grip, sometimes not. Sector one will be okay and then in sector two and three the tyre falls away again, or vice versa. That just makes it very tricky and very inconsistent," he reinforces his earlier words.
"It's just very tricky. One little moment and you immediately lose a tenth and a half. When you're full on the limit, a tenth and a half is a lot, so it's just very tricky and also quite frustrating to drive." However, Verstappen does expect things to improve in the race on Sunday: "Of course, it's always hard to say when the tyres are so difficult, but I think it will be a bit better for the race."
