Perez grabs Miami pole with Verstappen only ninth after Leclerc crash
Perez snatched an unlikely pole thanks to getting a strong banker lap in with his first flying lap in Q3, before Leclerc shunted his Ferrari at Turn 7 and caused a red flag that brought a dramatic qualifying to a premature end.
Red Bull teammate and world championship leader Max Verstappen had looked the clear favourite for pole going into the final part of qualifying but was left to rue a rare mistake which forced him to abort his first Q3 run, leaving him ninth.
Leclerc had been looking to improve after a scrappy first run left him only sixth, but the Monegasque crashed for the second time in as many days.
With the clock stopped with just 1 minute and 36 seconds remaining at the time the red flag came out, there was no time for qualifying to resume, enabling Perez to secure his third career pole and his first not in Saudi Arabia.
Joining Perez on the front row of the grid will be Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who posted a brilliant lap on his first run of Q3.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third-fastest, ahead of Kevin Magnussen, who impressed in his Haas to claim a superb fourth on the grid.
Pierre Gasly was fifth for Alpine, while George Russell was the fastest Mercedes driver in sixth as his teammate Lewis Hamilton suffered a shock Q2 elimination in 13th.
Despite crashing out of qualifying, Leclerc will start seventh, ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Verstappen, and Valtteri Bottas, who completed the top-10 order for Alfa Romeo.
