F1 sprint LIVE: Updates as Lewis Hamilton struggling and Charles Leclerc leads at Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

LIVE – Updated at 15:56

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:

Daniel Ricciardo wants nothing to do with Carlos Sainz as the Ferrari flies past him with DRS enabled. Sainz started in 10th and is now up to P5 with McLaren’s Lando Norris ahead of him.

Mick Schumacher has got Sebastian Vettel!

More good work from Carlos Sainz as the Ferrari overtakes Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. The Haas is on medium tyres and has fallen three places already.

Eight laps to go. Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher are engaging in an interesting contest for P10. Schumacher lining up the DRS overtake but Vettel