Lando Norris will start the Miami sprint race in pole position after defeating championship leader Kimi Antonelli in an upgraded McLaren race car.
The defending champion topped what turned into a single-lap SQ3 shootout at the Miami International Autodrome, beating the early 2026 dominator Mercedes.
The session at the Miami Autodrome was the first competitive outing following a tweak in the rules to help drivers push flat out instead of excessive energy management, although the stop-start circuit around the Hard Rock Stadium was not the most representative venue to evaluate the success of the FIA’s intervention.
It was also the first qualifying session following an enforced five-week ‘spring break’, which most teams put to use to introduce upgrades. While 2026 leader Mercedes did not bring any updates for now, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull all rolled out significant upgrades to their respective race cars.
In SQ1 McLaren’s Norris topped the times, just 0.010 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton behind. The Mercedes duo of Antonelli and George Russell were fifth and sixth, a first indication that the Silver Arrows might have to pay a short-term price for being out of sync with its upgrade plan.
There was disappointment for Liam Lawson, as he struggled for brake temperature after a compromised warm-up, with the Racing Bulls driver eliminated ahead of Esteban Ocon.
Cadillac duo Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were out in P19 and P20 respectively, the slowest of the twenty cars to set a competitive lap time. And that’s because Aston Martin’s nightmare with Honda continued, with neither Fernando Alonso nor Lance Stroll able to set a proper fast lap.
Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon had just aboutm making it through SQ1 but then tumbled at the next stage. As Leclerc led from Piastri with one minute, 28.333 seconds lap, Audi drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were also eliminated in SQ2, with Bortoleto missing the cut by just 0.021 seconds to Pierre Gasly. Arvid Lindblad also followed Lawson out the door in P15.
In the top ten shootout of SQ3, drivers waited until the end of the session for a single-lap run, with Norris confirming McLaren’s progress to take a sprint pole. At the venue of his maiden Grand Prix win in 2024, the reigning world champion established a lap in one minute, 27.869 seconds as the cars moved to soft tyres.
Championship leader Antonelli was just over one tenth off in second, narrowly bumped the second Papaya of Piastri off the front row. Leclerc was fourth, with Max Verstappen also showing some progress in the Red Bull in P5.
Russell was only sixth, ahead of Hamilton and an impressive Franco Colapinto, with Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly rounding out the top ten.
So congratulations to Lando Norris in getting pole position for the sprint race in Miami. Very encouraging to see McLaren making a positive step in terms of performance with the defending champion in P1 with Oscar Piastri in P3. It will be fascinating what will happen in the sprint race considering the new, tweaked regulations.
Miami Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.869
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:28.091
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.108
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.239
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:28.461
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.493
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:28.618
8 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:29.320
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:29.422
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:29.474
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:29.994
12 Nico Huldenberg Audi 1:30.019
13 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:30.116
14 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:30.216
15 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:30.224
16 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:30.573
17 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:31.043
18 Esteben Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:31.245
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.255
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.826
21 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:41.311
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda No time
Lando Norris has stormed to pole position in Sprint Qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix as the McLaren driver grabbed the team’s first P1 grid slot of the season ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
After displaying good pace during SQ1 and SQ2, Norris continued his solid form by going fastest of all in what proved to be a one-lap shootout in the final segment, the Briton pumping in an effort of 1m 27.869s.
This put him 0.222s clear of Mercedes’ Antonelli, while the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri was only narrowly behind in third. Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari in fourth – having also looked quick during the session – followed by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
George Russell was sixth in the sister Silver Arrows car – some six tenths away from Norris – while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton took seventh. The Alpines of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly claimed P8 and P10, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar slotting between them in P9.
The Audi pair of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg missed out on the top 10, exiting SQ2 in P11 and P12, with Haas’ Ollie Bearman also finding himself out of the running in P13.
Williams also experienced a double exit in the second segment as Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz took 14th and 15th – sparking some unhappy radio comments from the latter – putting them ahead of Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad.
The sister Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson was pushed out of SQ1 in P17 ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon, while the Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas wound up in P19 and P20 respectively on the team’s first home weekend.
The Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, meanwhile, rounded out the order at the back of the field in 21st and 22nd places.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/norris-seizes-pole-position-in-miami-sprint-qualifying-ahead-of-antonelli-and-piastri.3RVsemdZrx7agWsQaMzrm5
Reigning world champion Lando Norris’ Formula 1 title defence may not be up and running just yet, but a first batch of McLaren car upgrades helped deliver his first sprint pole of the season and a chance to reconnect with his the confidence he enjoyed late in 2025.
Norris was the first driver to bump a Mercedes off pole this season, putting two tenths on championship leader Kimi Antonelli in what turned into a one-lap qualifying shootout at the Miami International Autodrome. Oscar Piastri made it a McLaren 1-3 with the second Mercedes of George Russell only a distant sixth.
The result was a hazy mixture of McLaren trotting its upgrades out before Mercedes, while the Silver Arrows left time on the table with overheating tyres and an inferior energy deployment strategy compared to the customer team.
But what’s at least as significant for Norris is that he has regained the late 2025 confidence in his machinery that fuelled his run to his maiden world championship, after struggling in qualifying at the start of the 2026 campaign.
“A lot of work has gone into trying to bring these upgrades, and it’s always just difficult to anticipate or to know what to expect coming into a new weekend,” Norris said. “But since lap one, literally, turn one, everything felt better. I felt a little bit more like last year, with just having some confidence in the car.
“I feel like I’ve exploited that through the whole day today, so it’s a nice start to the weekend. Probably better than we were expecting, honestly. We were expecting better, of course, but we didn’t know, in terms of quantity, how it was going to be. So, a little surprise, but a pleasant one for sure.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lando-norris-feels-more-like-last-year-with-mclaren-f1-car-confidence/10817185/
George Russell has said he was “surprised” by the size of the performance jump McLaren and Ferrari made after sprint qualifying for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
After Mercedes dominated the opening three rounds of the season, taking every pole position and race win, its control on the new campaign has been loosened as Lando Norris stormed to sprint race pole in Miami, beating Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 0.222s.
With McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in third and Charles Leclerc in fourth – plus Max Verstappen fifth for Red Bull – it pushed Russell back to sixth in sprint qualifying, 0.624s off the pole time set by Norris.
Both McLaren and Ferrari delivered significant F1 car upgrade packages in Miami, while Mercedes arrived with modest updates as part of its long-term development schedule. The team was bracing for its rivals to make gains, but Russell admitted he was surprised by the size of the jump.
“Pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari have made, so that’s pretty damn impressive. We knew they’d probably close the gap but they’ve been quicker than us,” Russell said after sprint qualifying.
Russell also conceded his sprint qualifying wasn’t optimised as he was struggling with overheating his tyres through the slow-speed middle section of the Miami International Autodrome.
“My side I have been struggling today, Miami’s not a track that I love to be honest, especially with these hotter conditions but it’s only sprint qualifying so let’s see what tomorrow brings,” he explained.
“I was just overheating my tyres a lot in that twisty section in the middle I was struggling to get the right balance with the car. Not much more to say than that really. As I said just quite surprised by the progress of the others but another day tomorrow.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/george-russell-surprised-by-mclaren-and-ferrari-performance-jump-at-miami-gp/10817124/
Max Verstappen believes that Red Bull’s wealth of upgrades for the Miami Grand Prix have so far “almost halved” the gap to the leaders, but still sees weaknesses in this year’s RB22 to work on.
Red Bull caught the eye with its own interpretation of the “Macarena” rear wing; when the active aero system is turned on for straight mode, the wing rotates around 180 degrees. Although Ferrari was first seen in testing with the device, Red Bull was adamant that it had its own version in development long before it was ever seen in the flesh.
The team also has new sidepods, increasing their width from side-to-side to incorporate a waterslide-like ramp along the top surface to offer more direction to the airflow passing over the top.
To satisfy the reprofiled sidepods, the engine cover and the floor have been reworked. Furthermore, the exhaust also appears to have a flap at the exit port to work in a similar way to Ferrari’s exhaust winglet seen earlier this season.
Giving his first verdict of the updated RB22, Verstappen felt that the car was “more together”; he took it to fifth on the grid for the Miami sprint race, just under 0.6s off Lando Norris’ pole time. By comparison, Verstappen missed the Q3 cut-off in Suzuka, having been 1.2s slower than Kimi Antonelli in Q2.
“It feels more together. Of course, there are still things that we are working on. But it’s been a really positive step for us. Last few races we were over a second behind. I would say we have almost halved that gap now,” Verstappen said.
“So that’s positive. We’re still very weak in the first sector, which is mainly high speed. So we know that we need to work on that.
“But, yeah, the rest seemed all a bit more together. So a bit happier with that. At least it seems like we have cleared a little bit the midfield.
“It feels a bit more normal. It’s still not where I want it to be, obviously. But it’s at least allowing me to trust it a bit more. And I can basically take a bit more lap time out of it.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/max-verstappen-red-bull-miami-updates-have-almost-halved-gap-to-f1-frontrunners/10817138/