McLaren’s Lando Norris took the fight to early season pacesetters Mercedes by claiming pole for the Sprint at the Miami Grand Prix two tenths clear of championship leader Kimi Antonelli. McLaren’s upgraded car also earned Oscar Piastri third on the grid for the 19-lap race ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.
After the sport’s five-week break, McLaren, like many rivals, arrived in Miami with a heavily upgraded car and with rules refinements also in place regarding PU energy, the world champions jumped to the front of the pack for the first time this season.
In SQ1 Norris went quickest with a lap of 1:28.723, a hundredth of a second ahead of Leclerc who appeared to be enjoying his upgraded Ferrari SF-26. Piastri was third on 1:29.169 ahead of the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ pair Antonelli and George Russell.
There was no place in the second session, however, for Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who exited in P17 ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon, the Cadillac cars of Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, with the latter pair unable to set lap times during the session.
In SQ2 Norris briefly faltered, with the champion putting in a ragged performance in his way to P7. It was Leclerc who led the way, with the Ferrari driver posting a lap of 1:28.333 to top the segment ahead of Piastri, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen and Antonelli. At the wrong end of the timesheet the Audi pair of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were eliminated in P11 and P12 respectively, with Haas’ Oliver Bearman exiting in P13 ahead of the Williams cars of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. The latter was displeased with this teams efforts telling them they were “three steps behind” throughout. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad also dropped out in P16.
After a scrappy SQ2, Norris bounced back in the top 10 shootout to claim Sprint pole with a lap of 1:27.869. Championship leader Antonelli was 0.222 behind the McLaren driver with Piastri just 0.017s off the Mercedes teen. Leclerc was fourth, with Max Verstappen also benefiting from heavy upgrades to his car to take fifth for Red Bull ahead of Russell Hamilton and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto. Isack Hadjar was ninth in the other Red Bull and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10.
Team Review:
McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team sees hard work rewarded with Miami Sprint Pole
Following a four-week absence, Formula 1 action resumed at the Miami Grand Prix, with Friday’s running marking a crucial return to on-track activity.
An extended 90-minute Free Practice 1 session provided all teams with a valuable opportunity for preparation as the recently amended 2026 regulations were introduced for the first time at Round 4’s Sprint weekend, taking place at the Miami International Autodrome.
McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team introduced its first phase of MCL40 developments in the Sunshine State, with upgrades delivered to the front and rear brake ducts, bodywork, floor and rear wing. While it’s difficult to accurately assess such a comprehensive package in one 90-minute practice session and Sprint Qualifying, early indications suggest the package is working as intended.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who both spent extra time on the simulator in Woking looking to extract further performance potential throughout April, completed 35 laps each while both using a set of Soft and Hard tyres. This allowed the team to collect valuable data and learnings to be taken into the remaining competitive sessions of the race weekend, with a focus remaining on key areas such as extracting further performance from the power unit.
Sprint Qualifying saw defending World Champion Lando Norris put in a strong lap on the Medium compound to top the opening SQ1 stint, with teammate Oscar also driving well to record a P3 lap. With both drivers safe in SQ2, attention turned to the final round of Sprint Qualifying, with all 10 drivers due to run on the Soft tyres. Lando secured Sprint Pole with a strong lap time of 1m27.869s, followed by Oscar in P3 on the grid, thanks to a 1m28.108s lap.
Today’s performance with the upgraded MCL40 at this phase of the development pathway is an encouraging and promising sign that the hard work and dedication shown by the entire team trackside and in Woking has performed well. With plenty of competition sessions remaining this weekend, where further learnings will be gathered, including the exhibition of how the car performs in terms of race pace, the team looks to gather valuable points while competing at the front of the grid.
Lando Norris #1
FP1 1m30.208s (+0.898s) 35 laps 7th – tyre sets used: 1 Soft, 1 Hard
SQ1 1m28.723s (Medium) 1st
SQ2 1m29.366s (Medium) 7th
SQ3 1m27.869s (Soft) 1st
"We came into this weekend having put a lot of hard work into these upgrades, but you can never be certain what to expect until the car is on the track. I'm incredibly happy for the whole team because, from the very first lap, it felt like we had taken a step forward. It gave me the confidence I've been looking for, allowing me to really push and exploit its potential straight away.
"It’s a great start, and it feels good to be right in the mix, but we're keeping our feet on the ground. It was incredibly close out there with several teams looking quick, and we know there are still plenty of unknowns, especially when it comes to race pace. We are still learning how to get the most out of this new package, but we've started as well as we could have asked for. For now, I'm happy with what we've achieved, and we will focus on making further improvements ahead of the sprint and Grand Prix Qualifying tomorrow."
Oscar Piastri #81
FP1 1m29.758s (+0.448s) 35 laps 3rd – tyre sets used: 1 Soft, 1 Hard
SQ1 1m29.169s (Medium) 3rd
SQ2 1m28.506s (Medium) 2nd
SQ3 1m28.108s (Soft) 3rd
“I’m happy with that. The car had good potential, which was really nice to see. We still have things to improve, but the new package is a good step, so thank you to the whole team for their efforts. Congratulations to Lando as well - we didn’t luck into today’s result, the potential is there.
“The Ferraris looked strong throughout the day, so qualifying where we have is a really good effort. Whilst we expect the Mercedes to remain competitive, they haven’t looked as dominant so far, but there’s still a lot of track action to go. We’ll take the learnings from today and see what we can do in the Sprint, before we switch our focus to GP Qualifying.”
Neil Houldey
Technical Director - Applied Engineering
“We’re pleased with today’s result and performance across the opening day of running in Miami. The car has been great for both drivers, and the first phase of our development upgrades has shown promising signs.
“To come away with a Pole and third on tomorrow’s Sprint grid, given where we were in the first few races, is a strong step forward. Credit to the team at the factory for this first step, from aerodynamics and design through to manufacturing, and to the crew at the track who finished putting the package together, ready for today’s sessions.
“Now we need to carry this momentum into the rest of the weekend and aim to score as many points as we can. The pace is encouraging, the execution has been excellent, and the focus is on converting this step into results while continuing to gather and exploit further performance from the entire package.”
2026 Miami Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:27.869 - -
2 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:28.091 0.222
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:28.108 0.239
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.239 0.370
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 1:28.461 0.592
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.493 0.624
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:28.618 0.749
8 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Mercedes 1:29.320 1.451
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 1:29.422 1.553
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Mercedes 1:29.474 1.605
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:29.994 2.125
12 Nico Hülkenberg Audi 1:30.019 2.150
13 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:30.116 2.247
14 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:30.216 2.347
15 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:30.224 2.355
16 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 1:30.573 2.704
17 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 1:31.043 3.174
18 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:31.245 3.376
19 Sergio Pérez Cadillac/Ferrari 1:31.255 3.386
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac/Ferrari 1:31.826 3.957 4.503
21 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Honda 1:41.311 13.442 15.298
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Honda - - -
