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Miami’s Sprint weekend begins with Max Verstappen just ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz on the timesheet; But Charles Leclerc endures a nightmare start; watch Sprint Qualifying live on Sky Sports F1 on Friday at 9.30pm, with the Sprint on Saturday at 5pm

Charles Leclerc’s preparations for Friday evening’s Sprint Qualifying – which is live at 9.30pm on Sky Sports F1 – and indeed the remainder of the weekend though suffered an early blow after the Ferrari driver completed just two full laps before spinning out of the session in a potentially costly error.

Verstappen had appeared to be having his own struggles around the 3.31-mile street track with the world championship leader twice running wide under braking as he sought to find the ideal balance with his RB20.

But the in-form Dutchman ultimately found the lap he needed to in the session’s final moments and hit the top of the timesheet with a best time on the soft tyres of 1:28.595.

Encouragingly for the chasing pack, however, the early gaps around the wall-lined circuit were relatively close with McLaren’s Piastri and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz ending just over a tenth adrift of Verstappen in second and third respectively.

Mercedes, also running a number of upgrades on their W15 as they chase a much-needed step forward in performance, finished fourth and seventh quickest with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton respectively.