Lando Norris on Sprint Pole for Miami Grand Prix

Lando Norris put his McLaren on pole position for Saturday’s Sprint Pole for the Miami Grand Prix.

Norris, the defending world champion, has not had things go all his way this year after Mercedes dominated the first three races of the season.

A minor tweak to the Power Unit regulations to combat the dangers of closing speed differential under ‘lift and coast’ may play a part in closing things up after a lengthy gap between races.

“Nice to be back up here!” 💪

Lando Norris returns to the top spot in Miami Sprint Qualifying 👊#F1Sprint #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/4jVsqZIS3f

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 1, 2026

“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,” commented Norris on the official McLaren website.

“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 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.”

Kimi Antonelli, who won back-to-back races in China and Japan to take the championship lead, was next on the time sheets from the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

“We knew coming into this weekend that we would be in for a battle,” added Antonelli on his team’s press release. “Most teams have brought significant upgrades here and we knew that they would close the gap to us.

“With that said, I think we did a great job to recover from a difficult day to secure P2 for tomorrow’s Sprint.

“I was struggling with the car on the Medium tyre but it felt better on the Soft compound. That gives me confidence that we have more performance to bring over the rest of the weekend.

“The Sprint gives us the chance to score some points and understand our long run pace better. We will need to take that into account when making changes for Qualifying and hopefully set ourselves up for a good Sunday.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc lines up fourth on the grid from Max Verstappen, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Franco Colapinto, Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten.

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