The importance of a banker lap and why Red Bull missed it with Max Verstappen

In qualifying for Sunday's Miami Grand Prix, Max Verstappen momentarily lost control of his Red Bull Formula 1 car between Turns 5 and 7.

It meant that the defending champion failed to set an initial qualifying time on the board, with him and the team instead opting to return to the pits for a fresh set of the Soft tyre, attempting to seal pole position with one try.

However, things did not go as they had hoped, with Charles Leclerc smashing his Ferrari into the wall at Turn 7, bringing the session to a premature end with little more than 90 seconds remaining on the clock.

It meant that Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez, sealed the position, starting the race from the front for only the third time in his career. Verstappen will start down in ninth.

The slip that cost Max Verstappen a chance of pole ??#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/J7d3eHTx0s

At least get the banker

With qualifying broken down into three sessions - the final Q3 only 12 minutes long - teams and drivers don't have much time to play around with. Therefore, every second they spend on the track must be exploited for the maximum benefit.

Like the 10 drivers vying for pole position in Q3, Verstappen also went out on track, but slid coming out of Turn 5. Returning to the pits as he did is the safe option, but Red Bull played it too safe.

See, when you set an initial time on the board, a banker lap, you at least have the surety of that. Should things go awry, as they did in Miami, your time could put you in good stead for a strong starting position, as it did with Perez.

READ: Perez on pole for the Miami Grand Prix, Verstappen 9th: 'I'm enjoying the battle'

Of course, teams don't fuel the cars too heavily, making them as light as possible to set the quickest possible