The Formula 1 cars hit the track in the United States for the first time this season, as F1 fans at the Miami International Autodrome on Friday saw, first, a Free Practice session and then qualifying for Saturday's Sprint race - the second F1 Sprint race of the 2024 season.

Medium tires were used for the first two stints of Sprint Qualifying with softs being used on the final stint.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen will sit on the pole for Saturday's Sprint race with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sitting outside the pole; qualifying one-tenth of a second slower than Verstappen.

In the earlier practice session, Leclerc only completed three laps; spinning his SF-24 in Turn 16 and damaging his clutch.

"Honestly, I am quite surprised that we got P1 for the Sprint qualifying; it felt a bit different as I couldn't really push or feel too confident on the tyres and get a nice balance on the car," said Verstappen. "On a track surface like this, it means that if you are a little bit out with the tyres it makes a big difference, but I think everyone else particularly struggled with the final run on the soft tyres."

"I'm happy with my qualifying today as I can see that the work I put in over the last few weeks to improve tyre preparation has paid off," said Leclerc. "It was a tough one, as with only one timed lap completed in free practice, I had to go flat out straight into qualifying but I felt comfortable in the car from the start of the session."

Several drivers hit the wall in Turn 16 on Friday, including Lewis Hamilton, which hurt his final lap in Q2. Bother Mercedes drivers did not make it into the final qualifying session.

"We opted to make changes that were relatively minor ahead of Sprint Qualifying, aiming to retain that goodness in the afternoon session. Unfortunately, and as we have seen on numerous occasions this year, we were unable to take the step that others were capable of come the session that mattered," said Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director.

Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez qualified third with RB Visa's Daniel Riccardio pleasing his team with a fourth place qualifying effort.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz qualified fifth with McLaren's Oscar Piastri taking P6. After leading both Q1 and Q2, Piastri's teammate, Lando Norris, could only manage ninth quickest in Q3.

The AMR24's of Aston Martin took P7 and P8 (Stroll, Alonzo). Haas Racing's Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10.

Verstappen, Piastri and Sainz ran the quickest times in Free Practice 1 earlier in the day.

Miami GP Sprint Qualifying Results Summary -Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez, Ricciardo, Sainz, Piastri, Stroll, Alonso, Norris, Hulkenberg, Russell, Hamilton, Ocon, Magnussen, Tsunoda, Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Sargeant, Albon

Miami GP FP1 Results Summary - Verstappen, Piastri, Sainz, Russell, Stroll, Perez, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Ocon, Gasly, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Albon, Zhou, Norris, Bottas, Sargeant, Alonso, Leclerc

Miami GP Sprint Qualifying Results

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:27.641	138.139 mph
2	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:27.749	0.108
3	Perez		Red Bull	1:27.876	0.235
4	Ricciardo	RB		1:28.044	0.403
5	Sainz		Ferrari		1:28.103	0.462
6	Piastri		McLaren		1:28.161	0.520
7	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:28.375	0.734
8	Alonso		Aston Martin	1:28.419	0.778
9	Norris		McLaren		1:28.472	0.831
10	Hulkenberg	Haas		1:28.476	0.835
11	Russell		Mercedes	1:28.343	
12	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:28.371	
13	Ocon		Alpine		1:28.379	
14	Magnussen	Haas		1:28.614	
15	Tsunoda		RB		No Time	
16	Gasly		Alpine		1:29.185	
17	Zhou		Stake		1:29.267	
18	Bottas		Stake		1:29.360	
19	Sargeant	Williams	1:29.551	
20	Albon		Williams	1:29.858	

Miami GP FP1 Results

Pos	Driver		Team		Tyre	Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:28.595	136.651 mph
2	Piastri		McLaren		S	1:28.700	0.105
3	Sainz		Ferrari		S	1:28.711	0.116
4	Russell		Mercedes	S	1:28.784	0.189
5	Stroll		Aston Martin	S	1:28.817	0.222
6	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:28.868	0.273
7	Hamilton	Mercedes	S	1:29.012	0.417
8	Tsunoda		RB		M	1:29.056	0.461
9	Ocon		Alpine		S	1:29.163	0.568
10	Gasly		Alpine		S	1:29.175	0.580
11	Ricciardo	RB		M	1:29.178	0.583
12	Magnussen	Haas		S	1:29.189	0.594
13	Hulkenberg	Haas		S	1:29.314	0.719
14	Albon		Williams	S	1:29.393	0.798
15	Zhou		Stake		S	1:29.445	0.850
16	Norris		McLaren		H	1:29.495	0.900
17	Bottas		Stake		S	1:29.636	1.041
18	Sargeant	Williams	M	1:29.891	1.296
19	Alonso		Aston Martin	H	1:30.023	1.428
20	Leclerc		Ferrari		H	1:32.099	3.504

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media)