Max Verstappen claims pole position for the Miami Grand Prix sprint race as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joins him on the front row despite spinning out in morning practice

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took pole position for the Miami Grand Prix sprint race on Friday and was joined on the front row by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who missed most of the morning practice after retiring.

Three-time world champion Verstappen, who came from fourth on the grid to win the first sprint race of the year at the Chinese Grand Prix, will start from the front on Saturday after clocking the top time of one minute and 28.194 seconds around a steamy Miami International Autodrome .

“It felt really terrible,” Verstappen complained. ‘For whatever reason it didn’t feel nice to drive there, because in practice it felt very nice.

“Somehow we finished first.”

Leclerc’s morning practice was short, lasting just ten minutes before he spun and came to a stop on the track to bring out the red flag.

Three-time world champion Verstappen clocked the top time of one minute, 28.194 seconds

The Dutch driver was joined by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the front row after qualifying

But the Monegasque made no mistakes in qualifying and split the Red Bulls, with Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez finishing in third place.

“Qualifying has been the weak point for two races in a row,” said Leclerc. ‘I did one lap in the first free practice, so I had to go into qualifying and go all out straight away.

“When you have two races in a row where you’re bad in qualifying and I haven’t done great, people start talking.

“So it’s good to stop that, now we have to work on consistency and try to stay at that level.”

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed his best qualifying effort of the year despite hitting the wall and will start fourth alongside the Mexican but ahead of the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the only driver other than Verstappen to have a race wins.

‘I know it’s in me, but did I expect to start on the second row? Probably not that good,” Ricciardo said. ‘It was wild.

“Both laps I was kissing the wall, I was definitely pushing.

“It’s just so much fun to start from the beginning.”

Leclerc’s morning practice was short, lasting just 10 minutes before he spun

There were more distractions for Red Bull this week as top designer Adrian Newey announced he would leave the team at the end of the year, but on the track the championship leaders continued to maintain their dominance.

Verstappen arrives in Florida with four wins from five races and a 25-point lead over teammate Sergio Perez.

The Dutch 26-year-old is also looking to complete a hat-trick in Miami after winning the first race around the Hard Rock Stadium in 2022 and again last May from ninth place.

Verstappen has started all five races from pole position this season, making him the only driver this century to achieve this feat. French great Alain Prost was the last driver to take the first six poles of a season with Williams in 1993.

McLaren, who entered the Miami race with upgrades they hoped would close the gap with the rampaging Red Bulls, continued to troubleshoot as Australian youngster Oscar Piastri qualified sixth, ahead of the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso .

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who started from pole in the sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix, could do no better than ninth in Miami, while Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg finished tenth.

It was a hugely disappointing qualifying effort from Mercedes, with both seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell dropping out in Q2.

Russell will start eleventh, while Hamilton, who also hit the wall, will finish twelfth.