Formula 1: Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claims pole for inaugural Miami GP

Formula 1 points leader Charles Leclerc took his third pole position of the season as Carlos Sainz claimed second place to hand Ferrari a front-row lockout in qualifying for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix on Saturday.

Defending world champion Max Verstappen will line up in third place on the grid alongside Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

Leclerc aced the first two qualifying sessions but Verstappen was closing in, setting up a grandstand finish in the top-10 shootout. Q3 saw the reigning champion take provisional pole but Leclerc eclipsed him for a final pole time of 1m 28.796s, Sainz filing in second by 0.190s.

Verstappen made a mistake in his final flying lap and was eventually third, just 0.005s behind Sainz, while Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez took P4.

Valtteri Bottas, a new Ferrari power unit in his Alfa Romeo, delivered with P5 - ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who was sixth despite having had to put in a quick final lap in Q1 to avoid elimination.

Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda both made it to Q3 for AlphaTauri, the Frenchman qualifying seventh and the Japanese driver ninth. Between them was Lando Norris, eighth in qualifying despite going P3 in Q2. Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10 for Aston Martin.

( With inputs from ANI )

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