The Alpine driver stunned the paddock when he set a 1m11.553s effort with just a handful of minutes remaining in Q3 to take provisional pole.
Explaining the decision to run early in the final phase of qualifying, Ocon said: "We got done exactly in Miami for that.
"We left it late, we got done with the red flag for Charles [Leclerc] at the end and we wanted to avoid that.
"We wanted to go earlier with the two sets [of tyres] and that's what we did.
"Unfortunately, there was no red flag for us but it could well have paid off. It is something we will keep in mind."
Ocon dropped to fourth following the final runs as Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc all registered faster times.
Source: Autosport