F1 LIVE: Miami Grand Prix grid and build-up as Leclerc leads Ferrari front row lock-out over Verstappen

LIVE – Updated at 17:46

Follow live build-up to the inaugural Miami Grand Prix as championship leader Charles Leclerc starts on pole position. Leclerc landed pole on Saturday as Formula One hit Flordai and he kept his cool in the searing 33 degree heat, with Carlos Sainz completing an all-Ferrari front row.

Max Verstappen blew his chances of claiming his second pole in as many grands prix when he made a mistake on his final run. “I f***** it,” said the world champion over the radio. Lewis Hamilton qualified sixth in his Mercedes.

Verstappen got his title defence back on track following a dominant performance in Imola a fortnight ago and the Red Bull star looked set to start Sunday’s race in the box seat to eat into Leclerc’s 27-point advantage at the top of the standings. But he will now be on the back foot after he ran wide in the first sector of his final roll of the dice in qualifying.

Leclerc improved to take pole with his last lap – the perfect tonic for his spin in Imola which dropped him from third to sixth – while Sainz also leapfrogged Verstappen. However, despite setting the fastest lap time in FP2 on Friday, George Russell blundered in Q2 of qualifying, running wide on his first run before lapping only good enough for 12th in his Mercedes.

Follow live build-up, coverage and reaction from the F1 Miami Grand Prix below:

Lewis Hamilton has told Formula One’s rulers that he will not remove his nose piercing for the rest of the season.

The seven-time world champion appeared to adhere to the FIA’s jewellery cockpit clampdown by taking out his earrings for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix – hours after wearing a plethora of jewellery during a pre-race press conference. He even suggested he could withdraw from the grand prix