Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took his third pole position of the season as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ran wide, at turn six, in his final Q3 run.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon suffered a cracked chassis after he crashed out in the final practice session of the inaugural weekend. As a result, the Frenchman wasn’t able to take part in qualifying.

How qualifying unfolded…

Q1

As the pit exit light went green, to start the inaugural qualifying session in Miami, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen led the pack out onto the track ahead of his teammate, Mick Schumacher. Naturally, Magnussen was the first to get his lap time on the board with a 1:33.148 lap to beat.

After the early laps, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz became the first driver to pop into the one-minute, 30 second times with a 1:30.858 and set the fastest time. But this was soon beaten by both Red Bull’s as Max Verstappen topped the timing board.

After a tough start to the season, Mercedes were back at the top of the timing sheets as George Russell secured the third fastest lap, behind Sergio Perez and 0.572 seconds slower than Verstappen.

As the first qualifying third crept into its dying minutes, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton remained inside the elimination zone and dropped down to 18th as the bottom four drivers looked to try and get out of the elimination zone. In a bid to get out of the bottom five, he had a fresh set of soft tyres placed onto his car. On his final attempt, he put himself up to P5.

Eliminated:

20. Esteban Ocon, Alpine [DNS]

19. Nicholas Latifi, Williams

18. Alexander Albon, Williams

17. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo

16. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

Q2

At the start of Q2, the field was led out onto the south Florida track in similar fashion as Q1, with a Haas at the head – Schumacher. As a result, the young German was the first driver to start his lap time and set the Q3 benchmark: 1:30.423.

However, this was quickly beaten by Sainz who pipped his teammate, Charles Leclerc, to the top of the timing board. But, this was soon beaten by both Red Bull’s, who were on fresher soft tyres, as Verstappen set the new time to beat with a 1:29.202.

With just under seven minutes left on the clock, Russell was yet to set a lap time. As the young Briton attempted to secure his first lap of Q2, he had to collect the car before it found itself with a slap of oversteer in the first sector. As he approached turn seven, the #63 Mercedes aborted the lap to recharge his battery.

On the following loop, Russell managed to put in the seventh fastest lap – one second behind Leclerc, who had set the newest fastest lap.

Eliminated:

15. Mick Schumacher, Haas

14. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren

13. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

12. George Russell, Mercedes

11. Fernando Alonso, Alpine

Q3

Leclerc was the first driver to set a lap time, at the beginning of Q3, to set the benchmark for the remaining nine drivers to beat. When he crossed the finish line, the Monegasque set a 1:29.055 lap which was almost beaten by Sainz who was two-hundredths of a second behind his teammate. However, Verstappen became the first driver to venture into the 1:28’s with a blistering 1:28.991 lap.

With five minutes on the clock, the top five was as follows; Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo). While, on used soft tyres, Hamilton could only manage P6 behind his former teammate, Bottas.

As the field filter back out onto the track, for the last runs in Q3, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was the first driver to venture back to the circuit.

With a superb final lap, Leclerc managed to topple the defending world champion from the top spot as Sainz put in a similar lap to finish qualifying with a Ferrari front-row lockout, their first since Mexico 2019. However, Verstappen went wide in the sixth corner and dropped down to third.

Top 10:

10. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

9. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

8. Lando Norris, McLaren

7. Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri

6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

5. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

4. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

2. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

That’s it for the article: F1 Miami Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc takes inaugural pole position! With the grid set, who do you think will be the biggest surprise in the Miami GP? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula One here!

• F1 Miami Grand Prix: Mercedes George Russell leads second practice
• F1 Miami Grand Prix: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc tops inaugural practice
• Will Mercedes bring upgrades to Miami GP?
• F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: Max Verstappen wins as Charles Leclerc crashes

To keep up to date with the latest news from Apex Motorsports, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!