Norris storms to Miami Sprint pole

The McLaren driver delivered a stunning lap of 1m27.869s, the fastest of the weekend so far, to finish 0.222s ahead of Antonelli, and 0.239s ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri.

It looked set to be an all-McLaren front row until Antonelli found late pace in his Mercedes, edging out Piastri by less than two hundredths of a second to remain in contention for Sprint race honours on Saturday.

It came off a torrid Friday for the team, with Antonelli sitting out the closing moments of FP1 with an engine issue, and he and teammate George Russell seemingly off the pace throughout the day.

The pace deficit remained evident for Russell, with the Briton only able to manage sixth, behind Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

Norris said he was happy to return to the front of the field by claiming his fifth career Sprint pole, calling it a “perfect” result.

“It was great. A perfect result for us. A nice way to reward the team,” he said.

“You know, we’ve got a lot of new upgrades on the car so it’s nice to feel some grip again. And nice to reward the guys and girls who put a lot of work into this.

He also added his love for the circuit in Miami, a track which saw him win his first ever race two years ago.

“I’ve always loved Miami honestly, both on and off the track. So it’s a good result for us,” he said.

“Of course this is the beginning of the weekend so there’s still a long way to go but nice to tick it off by doing this.”

Norris said while it was good to finish ahead of Mercedes, as the Brackley squad failed to secure pole for the first time in 2026, it was tough to fully know how far back they were behind McLaren.

“It’s tough to know. Every track is different right?” Norris said.

“We’ve known that this track has always been good to us, but we knew that what we were bringing was hopefully a good step and it has.

“It’s nice that our estimations are proved correct and the team deserve that. They put a lot of work into these things.

“But since the first lap today I felt comfortable and was like, oh I’ve got a bit of rear grip and I felt good. I’ve always felt good around here and it’s good to do it.

He also added track conditions were tricky, particularly during the second part of qualifying.

“My Q2 was pretty woeful. I was like one second off. So it didn’t fill me with confidence going into the final run,” he said.

“I was debating whether we do one lap or two laps. Will [Joseph] pushed me and said, ‘Lando we’re doing one lap’ and it paid off.

“There’s been good work from the whole team and we got everything in a good window straight away, so I’m very proud of them.

“But the lap was good. It was good, apart from one corner, 16 onto the back straight. Completely missed it. Just didn’t want to get it today.

“Difficult conditions also with the wind, the wind can play a big effect.

“So I’m just happy. Happy to be back here. It’s been a bit, a little while, you know.

“So a perfect way for me to start the weekend too.”

Leclerc was unlucky not to mount a stronger challenge for pole having topped FP1 earlier in the day and shown strong pace across Sprint Qualifying, with the Ferrari driver making a mistake on his final push lap and unable to recover the time lost to Norris.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton was also unable to find the pace needed to challenge for the front of the grid, finishing eight tenths behind Norris’ pole time in seventh.

Franco Colapinto put in a strong showing by qualifying eighth, one spot ahead of the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar and Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly in tenth.

In Sprint Qualifying 2, just four hundredths of a second separated cars from 10th through to 12th, with Pierre Gasly ultimately sneaking through into SQ3 ahead of the Audi pair of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg.

Oliver Bearman was unable to progress and will line up 13th for the Sprint, with the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad also eliminated in SQ2 after a tightly fought segment.

Earlier in SQ1, Lance Stroll went off at Turn 17 and remained stationary in his Aston Martin for a period, triggering a brief yellow flag that disrupted a fast push lap by Norris. Despite the interruption, the reigning world champion recovered to top the session just ahead of Leclerc.

Stroll’s session then unravelled further when he returned to the pits and climbed from the car moments later, leaving it stranded without setting a time. The Canadian finished last as Aston Martin’s difficult start to the 2026 season continued.

Teammate Fernando Alonso also failed to escape SQ1, finishing 21st, with the Aston Martin pair joined in early elimination by Liam Lawson, Esteban Ocon and the Cadillac duo of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.

Lawson was particularly unlucky to miss out, edged by the Williams of Albon by just six hundredths of a second in the closing moments, with his time only two tenths shy of Lindblad in 14th.

The Miami Grand Prix Sprint takes place at 12pm local time on Saturday (2am AEST Sunday).

Results: Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, Sprint Qualifying