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 Perez 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.
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 Hulkenberg 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 Perez 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 – – –