F1 sprint LIVE: Result and grid positions as Max Verstappen wins and Lewis Hamilton struggles at Emilia Romagna GP

LIVE – Updated at 16:11

Follow live coverage as Max Verstappen starts Saturday’s sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on pole position after both Mercedes cars failed to make it through to Q3 for the first time in almost 10 years at Imola on Friday evening.

After Carlos Sainz’s crash in Q2 triggered a red flag, the rain began to pour and brought wet conditions for the remainder of the session, leaving both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell eliminated as they opted to not risk a further lap in the rain.

It marked the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix in 2012 that Mercedes failed to have a car finish in the top 10 of qualifying as their early season struggles continued, with Toto Wolff saying his team’s issues with ‘porpoising’ were their worst yet this year.

At the other end of the field, Verstappen will start ahead of Charles Leclerc after he held on to provisional pole in a rain-soaked and red flag-hit qualifying session. Verstappen clocked a faster time than Leclerc just as Valtteri Bottas pulled up off the track to trigger the fifth red flag of the session, while Lando Norris took a surprise third.

Follow all the latest from the sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix below:

That was another fantastic battle between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Verstappen started poorly but held in there to reclaim pole position for tomorrow.

Max Verstappen holds off Charles Leclerc and will have pole position tomorrow!

Leclerc takes P2, Sergio Perez P3 and Carlos Sainz P4.

Elsewhere Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas squeezes ahead of Kevin Magnussen to get into P7 and pick up another point if he can hold on to the place.

Max Verstappen takes the lead! He goes around the outside of Charles Leclerc and exits