Max Verstappen takes pole position for the Miami Grand Prix sprint race as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joins him on the front row despite a spin 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’s Charles Leclerc, who missed most of the morning practice after a spinning top

Triple 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 setting the best time of one minute, 28.194 seconds in a smoking Miami International Speedway. .

“It was really terrible,” Verstappen complained. “It was not pleasant to drive for some reason because in practice it was very, very pleasant.”

“Somehow we ended up in first place.”

Leclerc’s morning practice was brief, lasting just 10 minutes before he spun and stopped on the track to raise the red flag.

Triple world champion Verstappen set the best time of one minute, 28.194 seconds.

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

But the Monegasque made no mistakes in qualifying, splitting the Red Bulls and Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez was third fastest.

“Qualifying has been the weak point for two races in a row,” Leclerc said. “I did a lap in free practice one, so I had to go into qualifying and do it at full speed straight away.

“When you have two races in a row, where you are doing poorly in qualifying and I haven’t done a great job, 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, despite hitting the wall, enjoyed his best qualifying effort of the year and will start fourth alongside the Mexican, but ahead of the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the only driver besides Verstappen to have won a race this season.

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

‘On both laps I kissed the wall, I was definitely pushing.

“It’s very nice to start towards the front.”

Leclerc’s morning practice was brief, lasting just 10 minutes before he suffered a spin.

There were more distractions this week for Red Bull, with designer Adrian Newey announcing he would be leaving the team at the end of the year, but on track the championship leaders continued to dominate.

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

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

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

McLaren, which came into the Miami race with improvements it hoped would close the gap on the rampaging Red Bulls, continued to iron out problems as young Australian Oscar Piastri qualified sixth fastest, ahead of the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who started from pole in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint, could not get better than ninth place in Miami, while Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was tenth.

It was a hugely disappointing qualifying effort by Mercedes, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell exiting in Q2.

Russell will start 11th, while Hamilton, who also touched the wall, will start 12th.