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Verstappen banked a late lap to top the opening 60 minutes of running, while Leclerc managed just three laps before his session came to an end.
The Monegasque driver spun heading onto the back straight, leaving the Ferrari pointing the wrong way.
Unable to affect a flick turn, he was forced to attempt a three-point turn.
Miami GP: Free Practice 1 Results
That left him perpendicular to the direction of travel, prompting officials to throw the red flag as the Monegasque was forced to switch off the car with an overheating clutch.
As the session was interrupted, Verstappen sat fastest with a 1:31.071s, ahead of Lewis Hamilton by 0.056s, Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, and Oscar Piastri.
Leclerc climbed out of the car, his session only three laps to his name – a best time of 1:32.099s.
It was a costly stoppage for teams who had only an hour of practice, the red flag lasting eight minutes.
Unsurprisingly there was a traffic jam exiting the lane once running resumed.
There was little grip available to drivers, many of whom were on the hard compound tyres, which saw them frequently running wide.
That lack of grip was the likely cause of Leclerc’s spin as he bounced over the kerbing on the apex of Turn 16 and the back end stepping out as he applied the throttle.
Verstappen was among those to run wide, locking up under braking for the Turn 17 hairpin.
The Dutchman appeared to be on a long run at the time given he rejoined without backing up to create space for himself.
Team-mate Perez was at the top of the timesheets at the time with a 1:29.632s, just over a tenth clear of George Russell.
With 26 minutes remaining, Carlos Sainz went fastest in the sole-remaining Ferrari.
He logged a 1:29.346s on a set of hard compound tyres – versus the medium rubber Red Bull Racing had bolted on for Perez.
Despite nursing a power steering issue in his upgraded McLaren, Lando Norris improved to second fastest with a 1:29.495s.
Norris has the complete McLaren upgrade package in Miami, while team-mate Piastri has only half of the sizeable package.
Sauber was the first team to run the soft compound tyres, with Valtteri Bottas improving to seventh and Zhou Guanyu ninth with 10 minutes remaining.
Soft tyre running was at a premium given the Sprint format and tyre requirements associated with it.
Alex Albon had a run on the softs next, but a rear lock sent him off the road at Turn 1 to ruin his run.
Verstappen, too, was scrambling for grip, the backend of the Red Bull Racing trying to get away from him at Turn 7 – the team attributing it to a gust of wind.
Alpine improved to the top of the timesheets courtesy of Pierre Gasly on the softs with a 1:29.175s.
His time there was brief as Sainz went quickest, quickly beaten by Russell whose 1:28.910s was 0.069s faster.
All were on the soft rubber for a late qualifying simulation with all but Leclerc and the two McLarens on track with six minutes to run.
Verstappen was only 19th fastest at the time, quicker only than Leclerc who’d parked in the opening minutes of the session.
Perez, in the other car, went fastest despite losing time through the first sector after he encountered a Sauber.
A late lap from Verstappen saw the Dutchman fastest with a 1:28.295s, while Russell was lightning fast through the first split soon after but lost time in the middle third.
That left the Mercedes driver only second fastest, 0.189s away from the championship leader’s 1:28.595s.
When the chequered flag waved, Verstappen was fastest from Piastri, then Sainz, Russell, Lance Stroll, Perez, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon and Gasly.
Daniel Ricciardo was 11th while is was a disastrous session for Leclerc who managed only three laps in total.
