MIAMI — Lando Norris lauded McLaren’s upgrade package and said “it was nice to feel some grip again” after claiming a surprising pole position for Saturday’s Miami sprint race.
Norris qualified 0.222s quicker than championship leader Kimi Antonelli, with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri third.
Reigning world champion Norris and constructors’ champions McLaren had struggled to replicate its 2025 form across the first three races of the year but the team arrived in Miami with a long list of new parts.
Norris praised the work done over the five-week break since the Chinese Grand Prix, caused by the cancellation of April’s two races in the Middle East.
“It was great. Perfect result for us, nice way to reward the team,” Norris said. “We 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 the girls that have put a lot of work into this.”
He said: “I’m happy to be back here. It’s been a little while, you know, so just a perfect way for me to start the weekend.”
Norris claimed his maiden Formula 1 win at the Miami circuit in 2024, while Piastri won the race last year.
When asked if McLaren’s resurgence in qualifying was track specific or a sign of things to come, he said: “I mean, it’s tough to know, every track’s different, right? We’ve known that this track has always been good to us, but we knew that what we were bringing was going to hopefully do a good step, and it has, so it’s nice that our estimations are proved correct, and the team deserved that, they put a lot of work into all of these things.
“Since the first lap today, I felt comfortable, and I was like, ‘oh, I’ve got a bit of rear grip!'”
The break since China has given every team time to focus solely on car upgrades, with many accelerating plans for later in the year.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella said the team can take great encouragement from how the week’s schedule has started.
“When we saw the list of upgrades from all teams this morning we saw like everyone is basically taking a new car — or at least 50 percent of the of the pit lane — so we said ‘let’s see who’s done a better job’. I have to say that like they have demonstrated in the past [the] men and women at McLaren they have done a really really good job of designing, manufacturing, delivering these upgrades so it’s good to see McLaren again in the leading position in a qualifying session even if it’s only Friday and it’s a sprint qualifying session but it’s encouraging”.
The session was notable for Mercedes, who dominated the first three races, falling away. While Antonelli will line up second, George Russell will start sixth, with Ferrari and Red Bull both looking competitive in sprint qualifying.
“I think it’s interesting for the sport we have seen Red Bull more competitive, Ferrari and McLaren,” Stella said. “I think that’s good we should have good racing here in Miami and hopefully good racing in the following races but what’s important is that McLaren is there and we can have a very interesting competition.”
– Miami Grand Prix: Lando Norris takes pole for Sprint race in upgraded McLaren
– F1’s Miami Grand Prix schedule in doubt amid thunderstorm threat
– Miami Grand Prix: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fastest in sole practice session with Mercedes off the pace
