Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Miami

Image source, Getty Images

Red Bull's Sergio Perez took pole position for the Miami Grand Prix while team-mate and title rival Max Verstappen will start only ninth.

Verstappen made a mistake on his first run in the final session and when Ferrari's Charles Leclerc crashed there was no time to resume the session.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso will join Perez on the front row.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz is third, with Kevin Magnussen scoring a sensational fourth for the US-based Haas team.

Read the full qualifying report here

Image source, Getty Images

Is the championship lead going to change hands by the end of the 57-lap race in south Florida? The grid has given us a good chance of that happening following tonight's dramatic end to qualifying.

We'll be building-up to Sunday's Miami Grand Prix from 19:00 BST, with full radio commentary available on BBC Radio 5 Live, the BBC Sounds app and at the top of the page just before the lights go out.

Enjoy the rest of you night and see you tomorrow.

That's a very interesting line-up for Miami's second outing on the Formula 1 calendar.

Image source, Formula 1

Image source, Getty Images

Max Verstappen, who will start in P9 tomorrow, told Sky Sports: "That was a mistake of mine trying to put it to the limit and then having to abort the lap. Then you rely on a bit of luck of course that there is not going to be a red flag. It can happen on a street circuit so a bit upset with myself."

And here's what Red Bull boss Christian Horner had to say to the broadcaster: "That's the difficulty of not getting your first lap in.

"Checo did that and it was a great first lap but just frustrated not to have both the cars up there, with Max having a lot to do tomorrow."

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Carlos Sainz, who starts on P3 in tomorrow's race: "It was a very tricky quali for all. It's very difficult to find the right feeling with they tyres around this tarmac and I was fighting the whole way through quali. It was getting windier and windier and for our car in particular it was getting very difficult to drive.

"P3 was where where were targeting to be but we could have been better.

"It is a big unknown how our car is going to compete in the heat, but if we can push ahead that could bring us to the podium and be a great result.

"I think the Red Bull is very quick but with everyone else it is going to be a good fight with Fernando, the Mercedes, I think it is going to be an exciting race."

Image source, Getty Images

Fernando Alonso, who will start in P2 for the Miami Grand Prix: "I think it was a good qualifying. FP3 was messy for us. We tried different set-ups and the car came alive in qualifying. Extremely happy with P2. Let's see what we can do.

On the balance of the Aston Martin: "Perfect! I did enjoy every lap. It was so enjoyable to drive - especially the low-speed corners here are quite tricky, you go quite close to the walls at Turns 11,12 and 16, so you need to have that performance in the car to really attack qualifying. I had the confidence today, so I'm very pleased."

Image source, Getty Images

Sergio Perez, who will start on pole: "I think it's been my worst weekend up to qualifying. I just couldn't figure out how to put those things I was missing to Max and the Ferraris. I was just resetting everything, we did a small change and everything became more alive.

"It wasn't coming together. I was struggling for balance, confidence. This tarmac is very sensitive to temperature. Thank you to everyone.

"I am just thinking race by race, I will go out and cheer for my team because they have done a tremendous job. Tomorrow is a great opportunity from pole. We are the ones that have something to lose but we will go out there and enjoy this amazing crowd."

Now that we have calmed ourselves down a bit. Let's have a look at what the top three had to say...

Big mistake and crash by Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton knocked out in Q2, Max Verstappen starting ninth on the grid. Phew.

Here is the full breakdown of that drama-filled qualifying session.

Image source, Formula 1

Who had Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz as their Miami qualifying top three?

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

Leclerc is getting a slight reputation of win or bin. He drives on the edge, or over the edge. He's quick but it too often goes wrong for Leclerc.

A banker lap of 1:26.841 for Sergio Perez. This is how the top of the grid will look on Sunday:

1. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

2. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

4. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

5. Pierre Gasly (alpine)

6. George Russell (Mercedes)

7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

8. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

9. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

10. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

"Ai ai ai **** ****"

Red flagpublished at 22:02 British Summer Time 6 May 2023

22:02 BST 6 May 2023

The Ferrari was making its way through Turns Six and Seven was disaster struck. Charles Leclerc hot a double spin before hitting the rear of his car right in front of the crowd, who were shocked!

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

And that is going to be the end of qualifying. Leclerc needed to put the lap in, has binned it, Verstappen is going to start 9th.

The red flag is out and there won't be enough time to finish it.

Red flagpublished at 22:00 British Summer Time 6 May 2023

22:00 BST 6 May 2023

There was just over a minute on the clock when Charles Leclerc went into the barriers in sector one. His eagerness to grand back-to-back poles in Miami was his downfall.

Red flagpublished at 21:59 British Summer Time 6 May 2023

21:59 BST 6 May 2023

Well, that's Sergio Perez on pole position!

Red flagpublished at 21:59 British Summer Time 6 May 2023

21:59 BST 6 May 2023

The gasps from the crowd could be heard across the pond. The Ferrari went sliding along the track in a plume if smoke!

Yellow flagpublished at 21:58 British Summer Time 6 May 2023

21:58 BST 6 May 2023

Huge spin for Charles Leclerc!

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

Perez's lap time is really good enough that Verstappen cannot afford to nt give it everything on this next lap.

He cannot afford to make another mistake. It has looked like this has been in his pocket all weekend, and let's not forget a yellow or red flag cold scupper him.

This could go awfully wrong.