For Scuderia Ferrari HP, qualifying in Miami began with a third place for Charles Leclerc and a seventh for Lewis Hamilton in the Sprint race, thus adding 8 points to the team's tally, which now stands at 98, confirming its second place in the standings.

In the afternoon qualifying, Charles was third yet again, his best performance of the season so far, while Lewis was sixth.

Prior to the Sprint, Formula 1 paid tribute on the grid to Alex Zanardi, racing driver and paralympic champion, a true example of resilience and strength and a source of inspiration to so many.

Both Ferrari drivers started the Sprint on Medium tyres. From fourth on the grid, Charles got off the line really well, which saw him get ahead of Kimi Antonelli to be third behind the two McLarens. Lewis started from seventh and was involved in a great fight with Max Verstappen to be sixth at the end of the opening lap. On lap 9, the Dutchman passed him back, but went off the track in so doing and had to give the place back, although he then got past Hamilton again on the following lap. In the closing stages, Leclerc really closed on Oscar Piastri, but was unable to get ahead of him, thus taking the chequered flag in third place, with Hamilton seventh across the line.

For this afternoon's session, conditions were hotter than for yesterday's Sprint Qualifying. In Q1 Charles and Lewis got through to the next part using a set of Softs and then again to Q3. In the fight for the top ten places, both drivers used two sets of new Softs. On his first, Leclerc stopped the clocks in 1'28"143 which put him provisionally second, while Hamilton was fifth with a 1'28"376. Charles did not improve on his second run, dropped back to third by Verstappen. Lewis did improve slightly with a 1'28"319, but actually lost a place to qualify sixth.

Looking to the race. Tomorrow, Leclerc and Hamilton will need a strong start to have a strong race. The weather forecast is for a high probability of rain, which could make the race particularly unpredictable, where making the right decisions at the right time and executing them perfectly will be crucial. Therefore, decisions made on the pit wall and by the engineers will play a decisive role, as they interpret data and the constantly evolving conditions.

Charles Leclerc: P3 is quite a solid place to start the race from, and it's my best Qualifying result of the season so far. I think we did a better job overall with the car today, both in the Sprint and in Qualifying this afternoon. We introduced quite a significant aero upgrade package and I believe we benefited from it, even if it's still not enough to be ahead. On my second run in Q3 the car felt very different compared to the first flying lap, but I think the wind played quite a big role, as most drivers didn't improve. Tomorrow we need another good start and then we'll see. There's a chance of rain, so it could be a very open race.

Lewis Hamilton: Qualifying was an improvement for us. We made a lot of changes to the car ahead of the session and it felt much better, particularly through Q2, where things were looking strong. Q3 was more difficult and I wasn't able to extract the maximum performance, so there's still more to come.

I'm really grateful to the whole team for the hard work they've been putting in to bring these upgrades and keep pushing us forward. We've taken a step in the right direction, and now the focus is on continuing to work together to unlock more from the car.

Fred Vasseur: Today we saw a completely different result compared to yesterday, which shows that we are all still at a similar stage in our understanding of the cars, as the regulations, the tyres and especially energy deployment are not straightforward.

The key is to stay consistent, keep scoring good points and, step by step, build our understanding without leaving anything on the table. I feel we are gradually improving and, starting from the second row, anything is possible.

As for Alex, I remember perfectly when I started in this business what he represented. For me, he was a mega champion in single-seaters, in the US and then in the Paralympics, where he became a true superstar. But beyond the results, what will always stay with me is his resilience, his positivity and his ability to show that everything is always possible.

Check out our Saturday gallery from Miami here.