The National Times - Verstappen takes sprint pole in Miami

Verstappen finished 0.108 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc with his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez third.

"To be honest with you, it felt pretty terrible. Maybe that last session, it was just really difficult to get the tyres to work. I didn't improve much on the soft but I'll take it," said the Dutchman, who was also fastest in the earlier practice session.

"It didn't feel enjoyable to drive - practice was really comfortable, I was quite confident we could fight for pole. But qualifying it didn't look like that for me - I don't know what happened to the other cars on that last lap," he said.

All the drivers opted for a single flying lap in SQ3 with Verstappen posting his time of one minute 27.641 seconds.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo had an encouraging qualifier finishing fourth fastest ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

McLaren threatened in the early stages but weren't able to make the most of the soft tyres in SQ3 with Oscar Piastri sixth while Lando Norris will start from P9.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were seventh and eighth with Haas's German driver Nico Hulkenberg 10th.

It was a disappointing session for Mercedes who saw both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell go out in SQ2.

Earlier Verstappen posted the fastest time in practice while Leclerc managed just three laps.

Verstappen, who has won four of the five Formula One races this season, posted a best practice lap time of 1:28.595 despite having some handling issues earlier in the session.

The Dutchman, who has won both the previous Miami races, finished with a time 0.105sec quicker than McLaren's Piastri.

Ferrari's Sainz was third fastest followed by George Russell of Mercedes.

Leclerc over-steered at turn 16 and spun out, with his stranded vehicle blocking the track and bringing out an early red flag.

The sprint race will be held on Saturday ahead of qualifying for Sunday's main race.

A.M.James--TNT